The interaction between nurses and patients is greatly enhanced in an environment where information and communication technology has been put in place. Besides, nurses are in a position to exchange communication more conveniently than before when ICT had not been embraced. This has improved the way nurses deliver healthcare to patients. The level of efficiency and effectiveness has gone up (DeYoung, 2009).
The understanding that desktop computers, laptops and other modern-era communication storage, processing, transmission and retrieval devices are useful in the delivery of healthcare is very important. However, it is unfortunate that the e-health platform is almost a decade behind compared to other sectors like tourism and banking.
Embracing information and communication technology in healthcare is inevitable. It has facilitated the delivery of nursing goals to patients concerning prompt treatment through diagnosis and post-treatment care. It has also been quite easy to record, store, process and retrieve information related to a patient. On the same note, the comparison of such healthcare data in deducing important medical details has been enhanced a great deal. Basically, the nursing fraternity has been brought up to speed with other healthcare professionals who have long been using ICT in service delivery (Bradshaw &Lowenstein, 2010).
On the other, a highly technological environment in nursing practice has initiated its own share of challenges. For instance, strategies have to be developed in further training of the nursing staff on the application of e-health. This has generated the need to pursue further education on highly demanding technological modules in nursing. In a nutshell, technology may just be a futile pursuit if nurses cannot either have access to real-time technology or are completely not aware of them.
References
Bradshaw M and Lowenstein L. (2010). Innovative Teaching Strategies in Nursing and Related Health Professions. Ontario: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, LLC.
DeYoung, S. (2009). Teaching strategies for nurse educators (2nd ed). Upper Saddle River: NJ Prentice Hall.