Critical Thinking and Informatics in Nursing
Nursing just like any other medical field relies on information and passing the communication during the execution of duty. Nurses have the responsibility of providing direct care to patients and therefore nurses have to work towards providing adequate and passing relevant communication to the patient. Ensuring that a patient is informed calls for having the right information and passing such information in the right manner. Thus this need to have reliable and professional methods of communication in nursing has introduced a new idea referred to as nursing informatics. The idea of nursing informatics has been in existence for the last three decades however there is no universally agreed definition of the term. There is general agreeable definition that nursing informatics is the use of technology and technology-based information systems in all fields of nursing . In this sense, nursing informatics utilizes information technology in patient care and decisions making process in nursing practice. This research paper reviews creative thinking as may be applied in and the use of information technology.
One of the creative ways of passing information that can be used by nurses is the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs). These are technology tools that are very portable and are rather easy to manipulate. The use of such technological devices has been infused into almost every practice. Different fields of expertise now rely on PDAs for the day to day delivery of duties .
Nursing is also one of the fields of expertise that could employ the use of PDAs in passing communication to the patient. This is so because PDAs are easy to carry therefore nurses can have them everywhere they go. When presenting information to patient, PDAs are particularly good as they carry large amounts of information. Additionally PDAs have the ability of presenting information either in text or images or both. Such flexibility of presentation methods allows the nurse to adjust the presentation method depending on the audiences. Children may prefer to use images as they are most captivated by images and learn better from images. Adults may prefer a combination of both images and text as used in slideshows . Once nurses have understood that PDAs can be easily employed they will be able to take time and prepare what to present that would best deliver the message.
PDAs enhance the creativity of nurse in several ways. First, PDAs provide an opportunity of having important information to be used in nursing not stored in books but just a click away. Thus nurses have the opportunity to properly evaluate situations, assess the problem and employ decisions that are fully informed. Additionally, PDAs have the ability of saving response for patients.
Impact of Technology on Nursing
The advent of PDA technology is one of the examples that indicate the impact of technology in nursing and nursing education. Nursing and the health care fraternity as whole is quickly embracing technology in delivery of health care services. Efforts to have nursing practice performed effectively and efficiently have led to strong endorsement of technology and information systems based on computer networks . The new progress towards evidence-based practice implies that nurses now have to rely on a myriad of information and research before making any decisions.
Such efforts have led to the development of several technologies employed in nursing and medicine. Some of these technologies include clinical information systems (CISs), computerized provider order systems (CPOE) and computerized patient records systems (CPRs). These systems were developed to eliminate human error associated with health care. For instance, CPOE is useful in eliminating prescription errors associated with non-eligible handwriting associated with doctors . In this system, the health care providers enter the order to the pharmacy directly and thus eliminate handwritten prescription.
In general, integrated information systems used in nursing informatics have several advantages. The development of information literacy among nurse means that decision making, problem solving and research can now be done effectively and efficiently. Additionally, integrated system has also shifted the manner in which nurses are trained. While traditional methods relied on nurses’ intuition and intelligence, teaching is now centered on utilizing these technologies to improve patient care. A more important aspect is the manner in which these technologies allow patient records to be stored on such integrated systems. With this, nurses are able to easily access patient records for fast delivery of emergency services . This eliminates the long time it took to have patient records before administering necessary treatment.
Informatics also happens to have its challenges. The cost of implementing informatics is quite huge. The costs include training, purchasing and maintaining these equipments. Organizations and hospital face elevated costs in attempting to provide these important tools to the nurse.
Conclusion
In the current digital age, health care providers are keeping up with technology changes and information systems in improving patient care. These improvements have seen nurses utilize personal assistive devices and make use of integrated system to better serve patients. The use of these technologies has seen improved patient care.
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