There are a number of safeguards and decision-making support tools that can be used to improve patient safety outcomes in the nursing profession. Technologies such as these usually involve the integration of patient notes with information from current research to provide insight into the needs of the patient (Degenholtz et al., 2016). Software that combine information about the patient (such as allergies, current medications, and demographic information) with current recommendations for care work as both a safeguard and a decision-making tool. Implementation of these protocols work as a safeguard because they prevent over-medication or other medication errors that harm patient safety (Masters, 2015). These technologies can also be used to help guide nurses in terms of making a decision that promotes holistic health for the patient, rather than relying on experience alone. They should be used as a support tool for nurses when making decisions.
These tools are also useful because they can help to save time in a variety of nursing scenarios. One of the biggest causes of medical error is under-staffing, which can lead to carelessness or mistakes due to rushing or tiredness. These tools are useful because they can reduce the time needed to see each patient, thus reducing the overall workload (Degenholtz et al., 2016). Bar-coded medication administration technology can also prevent errors that occur when nurses are rushing to treat a patient quickly and efficiently (Holden et al., 2013). These technologies also require minimal training to be used and therefore can be implemented across entire departments with ease, which can also make communication errors less likely to happen. When medical information is integrated with technology, there is less chance that staff turnover will have a negative effect on patient outcomes as there is no need to communicate information about the patient verbally or through difficult to decipher handwritten patient notes.
References
Degenholtz, H. B., Resnick, A., Lin, M., & Handler, S. (2016). Development of an applied framework for understanding health information technology in nursing homes. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 17(5), 434–440.
Holden, R. J., Rivera-Rodriguez, A. J., Faye, H., Scanlon, M. C., & Karsh, B.-T. (2013). Automation and adaptation: nurses’ problem-solving behavior following the implementation of bar-coded medication administration technology. Cognition, Technology & Work, 15(3), 283–296.
Masters, K. (2015). Role development in professional nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ftkBCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=medication+technology+nursing&ots=ngWhEYSjyu&sig=6qbxzySzqqipAIJKZD7JEarIgNU
