Currently, health information technology gains more and more popularity all over the world. The research problem of the reviewed article consists in the fact that new technologies transform the process of care and introduce large-scale changes to this area of practice. The majority of the efforts are aimed at improving the financial, organizational, and human factors inherent in health care (Cresswell, Bates, & Sheikh, 2013). This is intended to facilitate the process of implementing electronic health records and other related technologies. In perspective, it is expected to have a positive impact on the workflow and other organizational processes (Button, Harrington, & Belan, 2014).
The research question of the study is whether the implementation of different information technologies will enhance the efficiency of care and ensure that patients receive care of the highest quality possible while being completely safe (Cresswell et al., 2013). Nonetheless, in real life, there are numerous issues associated with the implementation of information technologies in the healthcare setting because the novel technologies may not go in line with the healthcare providers’ common workflows (Button et al., 2014). According to the findings of the researchers, the benefits of utilizing innovational technologies may be mitigated by the anticipation of the latter.
Evaluation of the Research Method
Cresswell et al. (2013) believe that the implementation of new health information technologies has a rather significant impact on the policy-making process. The authors provide a comprehensive literature review in which they also claim that innovative technologies have to comply with the complex structure of health care in order to be efficient in terms of ensuring organizational changes. The international efforts of numerous healthcare actors (nurses, policymakers, senior clinicians, and many others) are intended to improve our experiences concerning the implementation of new information technologies and evaluation of the outcomes.
The current research project can be considered relevant and up-to-date because it perfectly correlates to the existing innovation in the field of information technologies. Cresswell et al. (2013) believe that it is important to plan carefully if the organization wants to implement serious health information technologies successfully. The researchers also state that the innovations should be perceived on a bigger scale due to the fact that it will help healthcare organizations to evade the most common drawbacks of modern technologies and adopt the innovations effectively (Cresswell et al., 2013).
It is rather interesting how this non-experimental research article sheds light on the issue of implementing health information technology in practice. This research does not include a sample due to the fact that it is organized in the form of synthesized and generalized findings of other authors. Therefore, the findings of the study cannot be validated easily, but they are expected to be free of bias due to the fact that they have passed the double-checking procedure (meaning that the original researcher(s) verified the results just as the current investigators).
If we are speaking of how we can improve the article, one of the things that have to be taken into account is the possibility of overlapping (even though the structure of the majority of health care organizations and technologies is rather linear). In line with Cresswell et al.’s (2013) findings, we can address the issue of numerous interconnected factors that can significantly impact the process of the implementation of novel information technologies so as to come up with a new healthcare strategy intended to improve the current state of affairs. They suppose that these factors transpire by reason of the composite nature of comprehensive health information technology projects. To conclude, the article is written in a rather concise manner as all the key points are organized in a list of items. All the necessary evidence supporting the presented findings is also in place. Further research in the area is obligatory due to the dynamic nature of information technologies.
We should perceive the healthcare environment as a complex organism that functions much better with the help of such an efficient instrument as health information technology. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate the effect of innovations on the patients, healthcare providers, and healthcare environment with the intention of coming back to the ten commandments presented in Cresswell et al.’s (2013) paper and revise them accordingly at the times when it is necessary. There is a necessity to conduct further research in the area so as to evaluate the current state of information technology in the country and provide certain large-scale conclusions connected to the health care environment (Cresswell et al., 2013).
Research in the area may be helpful in terms of identifying the weakest areas of information technologies in healthcare and coming up with new implementation efforts. One of the key factors is that the technologies that are being implemented have to be in line with the complexity of the health care environment. If the organization fails to follow this plan, the deployment of updated information technologies will not succeed as well (Cresswell et al., 2013). The implementation of new health information technologies can be beneficial in terms of developing positive provider-patient relationships and coming up with unconventional treatment methods. Therefore, nurses should realize that one of the key skills that are required within the existing healthcare environment is the ability to balance between the patient’s needs and technological limitations.
Another element that is inextricably linked to the healthcare improvements is the organizational structure of the given healthcare facility because the latter has to support the changes transpiring in the environment (Cresswell et al., 2013). The factor that should be considered for the future research is the ability of the organization to combine nurses’ beliefs and knowledge with the novel technological requirements and ensure that the health care providers have the necessary conditions to be able to learn and develop new skills (Agha, 2014). This is an ongoing process that has to be maintained and guided by the administration of the healthcare facility while the nurses persevere and make their best effort to keep up with the advances of health information technologies.
The article that was thoroughly studied within the framework of the current paper is properly structured and presents the evidence in a comprehensible manner. It can be described as an easy-to-read journal entry that outlines a relevant research question and then validates the thesis of the study by an extensive literature review that covers all the points indicated in the abstract. The authors of the study picked a pertinent research topic that necessitated thorough research and managed to review the issue perfectly. There is very little room for improvement as virtually all of the bottlenecks inherent in the application of health information technologies were carefully addressed. The ultimate verdict that can be reached here is that Cresswell et al. (2013) provided the readers and other researchers with a sort of guideline that can be used at health care facilities that are looking forward to either installing new technologies or updating those that have already been installed.
Conclusion
Considering the reviewed information, it will be safe to say that the future of the existing healthcare systems is grounded on the progress of information technologies. We can easily identify the progress that has been made if we compare the health care today and 30 years ago. It can also be noticed that the development of computers that are used in healthcare environments was also triggered by the necessity to improve and introduce new technology in practice. One of the most significant findings is that throughout the last two decades, the developments revolved around a variety of computer programs that were deployed for administrative purposes.
In contrast, the last ten years were spent on the ways to improve the clinical process by means of health information technology innovations. It can be concluded that the concept of patient-centered care is currently put at the forefront so as to ensure that all the new knowledge is used to adjust health information technology and develop new healthcare concepts.
The development of clinical applications is the key objective of the majority of the health care facilities, and this trend is not going to fade away for the next decade. Nonetheless, in order to make the most out of the development of new information technologies, the nurses and informatics specialists should also participate in the process of elaboration. This should be done in order to ensure that the new technologies do not break the existing workflow and facilitate clinical processes. By doing this, nurses will be able to affect the quality of patient care and improve health outcomes.
References
Agha, L. (2014). The effects of health information technology on the costs and quality of medical care. Journal of Health Economics, 34, 19-30. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.12.005.
Button, D., Harrington, A., & Belan, I. (2014). E-learning & information communication technology (ICT) in nursing education: A review of the literature. Nurse Education Today, 34(10), 1311-1323. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2013.05.002.
Cresswell, K., Bates, D., & Sheikh, A. (2013). Ten key considerations for the successful implementation and adoption of large-scale health information technology. Electronic Health Records, 9-23. doi:10.1201/b16306-4.