The alarming physician, nursing and pharmacist shortage may affect greatly on patient safety. Technology can be useful in a number of ways to better handle this shortages while at the same time help ensure patient safety. Additionally, technologies are aimed at increasing the productivity of hospital staff, improving the work environment and ensure that most of the main concerns are handled with ease. However, one needs to view technology as a method or facilitator for the current problems and not a solution to the nursing and physician shortages.
The use of electronic health records has significantly assisted in the provision of care. According to Furukawa, Raghu and Shao (2010), using electronic medical records technology has assisted in automation of manual tasks and enhancing communication among the medical practitioners. Thus, with the shortages, the few practitioners available can be able to use their time efficiently and ensure that staffing is done properly, which improves the working conditions of the staff. Additionally, the electronic medical records has provided some improvement in patient safety, increased quality of care through the provision of guidelines, reminders, and automated alerts that prevent any major problems arising from drastic events. For instance, physicians can be able to attend to the patient without having the nurses do rounds all the time when a patient’s condition changes. The use of technology has improved the standardization of patient clinical information (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2009). The standardization of records ensures that other health providers can have access to the patient’s records. Access to information becomes quick that saves time in sharing information between different departments in hospitals.
Staff scheduling systems helps to change the level of patient care by ensuring that the inadequate staff is properly assigned duties. With a scheduling system, schedules can be developed that fit well with the medical practitioners’ lifestyles, which can help in ensuring that they do not quit or change their jobs.
Pharmacists can embrace bar coding to help in reducing medication errors. This technology coupled with the clinical patient information in computers will reduce medication errors, which may result from wrong drug administration. Most of the errors will result from pharmacists or nurses that have worked for long hours due to the limitations in numbers. Additionally, the bar codes help to ensure and track that patients receive the correct drugs and prescriptions (Biradar, Patil, Mamledesai, Ronad, Rasal and Swamy, 2004).
Technology can boost the communication between the different staffs in hospitals. They reduce delays, which may be frustrating and create difficult situations for the nurses. Efficient communication may be significant in saving lives. Thus, making technological changes needs to be aimed at improving the provision of care. Nurses, physicians and pharmacists shortages will surely continue to increase and technology will only be sufficient for only short time since they have to work hand in hand with support staff that will have to include trained medical practitioners. Additionally, implementation of technology will also affect the outcome of the provision of care. The different technologies will definitely have their challenges that may range from financial to training and timely implementation to ensure success in improving patient care.
References
S Biradar, B Patil, S Mamledesai, P Ronad, V Rasal, A Swamy (2004). Using Bar Codes To Enhance Patient Safety By Reducing Adverse Events. The Internet Journal of Pharmacology. 4 (1).
Furukawa, M. F., Raghu, T. S., & Shao, B. (2010). Electronic Medical Records, Nurse Staffing, and Nurse-Sensitive Patient Outcomes: Evidence from California Hospitals, 1998–2007. Health Serv Res., 45(4), 941–962.
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. (2009). Nursing know-how. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
