In the 21st century, the nursing practice is characterized by the more complex character in comparison with the situation observed several decades ago. From this point, today the role of nursing practice in the society is changed with references to the new nurses’ functions and expanded nurses’ duties. In spite of the fact that modern nurses continue to work to support the national health agenda, the broadened scope of duties make nurses improve their skills and rely on more technologies in order to guarantee the necessary empowerment in field.
The traditional function of nurses to provide the humanistic and supportive care and the necessary health counseling for patients is associated with the necessity to improve the quality of the care and provided assistance to respond to the current tendencies in the health care field. As a result, modern technologies such as electronic recorded systems, electronic charting systems, personal digital assistants, and specific computer software are used in the contemporary nursing practice to improve the quality of care and assistance.
Five main phases of the nursing process can be determined in relation to the nursing practice. These phases include the assessment with the focus on gathering the data about the patient’s state, diagnosis as the statement of the potential health problems, planning as the focus on the expected outcomes and the strategy to treat the patient, implementation as the practical realization of the planned activities, and the evaluation of the achieved results (Cody 80-112). During all these stages, nurses should operate and analyze a lot of information and factual data.
That is why, the use of technologies is expected at all the stages of the nursing practice. Thus, today the record keeping is realized effectively with the help of computer software and electronic record systems to gather and store all the necessary information at the stage of the assessment and planning appropriately (Daly, Speedy, and Jackson 200). The reliance on electronic charting and computer software to analyze the cases and evidence-based practices is necessary to optimize the nursing process.
Furthermore, today nurses often utilize personal digital assistants in order to access the electronic calendars and reminder lists and refer to the Internet resources while planning the care. According to Gaumer and the group of researchers, more than 90% of nurses use computers and other information technologies in order to organize and improve the nursing process (Gaumer, Koeniger-Donohue, Friel, and Sudbay 349).
However, the range of opportunities provided for nurses with references to technologies is not limited to the aspects of the nursing process. Contemporary distance education technologies are actively used by nurses oriented to improving their knowledge and skill development within the field of nursing (Cody 64-72). From this perspective, different types of technologies are used in nursing practice, and it is important to focus on their significance for improving the actual care and nursing process.
Modern technologies used in the nursing process and the whole practice are important to improve the quality of the care provided, depending on the improvement of the process’s stages. Those nurses who use personal digital assistants state that these devices can satisfy their needs for the accurate information received in time. Personal digital assistants are also effective tools to improve the nurses’ decision-making process with references to the immediate provision of the credible information on the issue (Lewis and Sommers 67).
Moreover, electronic charting and record systems are effective to save nurses’ time and efforts to organize the information and plan the activities appropriately. As a result, the quality of the care oriented directly to the patient increases. Thus, according to Simpson, the use of technologies contributes to the improvement of nursing practice by “counteracting human error, by improving human behavior, and by putting nurses where they need to be more effective” (Simpson 303). The improvement of the nursing process is realized at all the stages, and the quality of the provided assistance increases with the focus on the positive healthcare outcomes.
Receiving the opportunity to use technologies in order to organize the nursing process, nursing practitioners focus on the improvement of their everyday activities while reacting to the patients’ needs more efficiently. Daly, Speedy, and Jackson state that technology can influence every aspect of the nurses’ activities, thus, “technology advancement is linked to a range of experiences, including shorter length of admission to hospital, greater efficiency, changing skills and knowledge, alternation to employment patterns, specialization and standardization of care” (Daly, Speedy, and Jackson 224). The use of different technologies in nursing practice contributes to the improvement of nurses’ work, and as a result, to the improvement of the provided care.
Significance of using technologies in nursing practice can also be discussed with references to the role of the changes for the community and for different stakeholders involved in the process. Thus, the focus on providing the opportunities to increase the technological potential of many medical institutions can guarantee the overall improvement of the care quality and, consequently, the improvement of the quality of patients’ health.
The use of advanced technologies in nursing practice is associated with the decrease in medical errors because of the focus on electronic data recording systems (Daly, Speedy, and Jackson 202). As a result, the patient safety is improved, and this fact contributes significantly to the rates of the health quality within the community because any errors in the nurses’ activities as well as any measures to improve the care can influence the health and wellbeing of the public directly.
The use of technologies at all the stages of the nursing process makes it more efficient because of decreasing the role of the human factor in affecting the quality of the provided care. While referring to the use of different types of advanced technologies, it is possible for patients to rely on the high-quality care based on the proper organization and implementation of the planned procedures. From this point, the integration of information technologies in patient care guarantees the improvement of the received assistance (Simpson 302). Thus, the benefits from using technologies are shared by not only nursing practitioners but also by patients and other stakeholders who rely on the provision of the high-quality and professional care and assistance.
Today, the use of technologies in nursing practice can change the traditional approach to the nursing process with references to the improvement of the activities and increasing the quality of the care and assistance. As a result, the focus on the use and development of such technologies as the electronic recording systems, electronic charting systems, personal digital assistants, and computer software is necessary to enhance the progress within the health care industry. The potential benefits from using the technologies in nursing practice are noticed and fixed not only by the nursing practitioners. It is more important for the field’s development that the use of technologies is significant for improvement of the patient care’s quality.
Works Cited
Cody, William. Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives for Advanced Nursing Practice. USA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Print.
Daly, John, Sandra Speedy, and Debra Jackson. Contexts of Nursing. USA: Elsevier, 2009. Print.
Gaumer, Gary, Rebecca Koeniger-Donohue, Christina Friel, and Mary Sudbay. “Use of Information Technology by Advanced Practice Nurses”. CIN 25.6 (2007): 344-352. Print.
Lewis, Judith, and Cal Sommers. “Personal Data Assistants: Using New Technology to Enhance Nursing Practice”. MCN 28.2 (2003): 66-71. Print.
Simpson, Roy. “The Softer Side of Technology: How IT Helps Nursing Care”. Nursing Administration Quarterly 28.4 (2004): 302-305. Print.