Literature Review of Technology in Nursing, Coursework Example

Introduction

Technology is used widely throughout nursing practice and provides an opportunity for nurses to implement efficient processes and methods of managing and improving patient care and treatment. Nurses must have greater access to these tools so that they are able to perform their roles and responsibilities to the best of their ability. Furthermore, the implementation of technology in the nursing environment supports the creation of alternatives to achieve high quality patient care and treatment at all times. Patients are well served by the options available through technology and should be provided with a means of facilitating positive and practical decision making on behalf of their patients. It is expected that these tools will provide a basis for understanding the issues that nurses encounter as they treat patients with a variety of conditions across many age groups. It is important for nurses to work in an environment that incorporates technology-based solutions to achieve greater efficiency and quality of care. The use of electronic health records to document important clinical information encourages accuracy and data sharing in an effective manner. This data must be protected and must remain confidential in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of new tools in order to ensure that patient outcomes are achieved in the desired manner. Clinical decision support strategies must also be established so that any and all decisions that are made are in conjunction with the effective utilization of electronic health records. All nurses must obtain the proper training and be provided with access to these tools so that they are able to meet the obligations that their roles require. The following discussion will address four separate research studies that examine electronic clinical documentation and clinical decision support systems in greater detail in order to identify their uses and effectiveness in promoting greater quality of life and improved communication between nurses working with patients.

Conclusion

The articles that were evaluated for this literature review provide a number of different perspectives regarding the effectiveness of clinical decision support systems and their integration into electronic health records. Across a number of different diagnostic areas, it should be noted that physicians do not always take these systems for their potential benefits and may appear to devalue their significance in different ways. With this argument, some physicians may declare that their own decision-making capabilities are more effective and more appropriate in achieving the desired level of patient care. It is important to recognize these limitations and to determine where clinical decision support systems might be most effective as they are integrated into electronic health records.

There are considerable challenges associated with the development of new approaches to learning in this capacity. Physicians may be resistant to clinical decision support methods because they believe that they information that is provided is either incorrect or is insufficient in establishing diagnoses for patients. As a result, it is necessary to develop other strategies that might be more effective in providing physicians with additional guidance to promote efficiency and greater quality of care. Also, clinical decision support systems require a period of adjustment for many physicians, particularly those for whom electronic health records are a challenge to maintain. Therefore, a shift in culture towards advanced technologies may be necessary in order to enable physicians to make better decisions regarding quality of care for their patients across many specialty areas, as well as in primary care settings. When clinical decision support systems are considered, they require a level of understanding and acceptance that will accomplish improved quality of care; however, this requires extensive training so that these systems are better understood. This form of technology has many potential benefits for healthcare practice and requires the knowledge and resources that are necessary to experience a seamless integration into electronic health records to improve nursing practice objectives.

References

Co, JPT, Johnson, S.A., Poon, E.G., Fiskio, J., Rao, S.R., Van Cleave, J., Perrin, J.M., and Ferris, T.G. (2010). Electronic health record support and quality of care for children with ADHD. Pediatrics, 126(2), 239-246.

Galanter, W.L., Hier, D.B., Jao, C., and Sarne, D. (2010). Computerized physician order entry of medications and clinical decision support can improve problem list documentation compliance. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 79, 332-338.

Gill, J.M., Mainous III, A.G., Koopman, R.J., Player, M.S., Everett, C.J., Chen, Y.X., Diamond, J.J., and Lieberman, M.I. (2011). Impact of EHR-based clinical decision support on adherence to guidelines for patients on NSAIDs: a randomized controlled trial. Annals of Family Medicine, 9(1), 22-30.

Hoeksema, L.J., Bazzy-Assad, A., Lomotan, E.A., Edmonds, D.E., Ramirez-Garnica, G., Shiffman, R.N., and Horwitz, L.I. (2011). Accuracy of a computerized clinical decision-support system for asthma assessment and management. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 18, 243-250.