Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends
Respond to each post separately offering additional/alternative ideas regarding opportunities and risks related to the observations shared.
In your responses, offer additional/alternative ideas regarding opportunities and risks related to the observations shared. Support your post by 3 or more current, credible resources and your responses by 2 or more current, credible resources as indicated in the rubric. Paraphrase and integrate information obtained from sources with appropriate citation to demonstrate critical thinking (instead of using direct quotes).
DISCUSSION
Health Information Technology Trends
In today’s fast paced and ever evolving world, technology has taken center stage. From social media, to mobile apps, to work emails, technology has made an appearance in everyday life. Health care facilities utilize technology to improve patient care and document nursing interventions. One of the main technologies used in health care is the electronic health record (EHR). The EHR is a virtual patient chart where patient information can be found such as allergies and medical history (What is an electronic health record (EHR)? 2019). Most nurses are used to using technology in some capacity during their work day. Health care providers should be ready as new trends to provided care are rapidly being implemented.
One technology trend that I have witnessed is telehealth. Telehealth is an online service where health care providers can have an appointment with their patients, instead of being face to face. Telehealth helps providers reach patients that are unable to come to a health care facility due to barriers (Shigekawa, Fix, Corbett, Roby, & Coffman, 2018). Another technology trend I have personally used is remote monitoring. Patients who need to be hooked up to a telemonitor, are monitored by a person who is watching their monitor elsewhere.
The challenge associated with telehealth is the patient is not in front of you. A large part of assessments relies on palpitation, touch, and auscultation. Using telehealth, providers are unable to due extensive assessments virtually. Using remote monitoring also poses the same challenges, the person who is watching the monitor cannot go fix the monitor or check on the patient. One benefit of telehealth is healthcare providers reaching patients unable to come into the health care facility. One risk of telehealth is having the call dropped, or overheard by other individuals. With remote monitoring the benefit is facilities can still have tele patients without having monitoring systems at their facility. The risk of remote monitoring is patient safety, if the monitor tech is unable to get a hold of the nurse when something is not right with the patient monitor, the patient could have delay of care. The challenge that presents itself in both of these technologies is cost, health care facilities feel the pressure of implementing new systems but also feel the hardship of finding funds for the updates (McGonigle & Garver Mastrian, 2018).
The technology I think is the most promising is telehealth. Telehealth is not meant for emergencies, but to accesses a doctor when you need a check-up. Telehealth is great for mental health patients who do not necessarily have a physical aliment that needs to be assessed. Mental health is an issue and so is access to mental health services. Telehealth will increase the number of patients seen by providers. Telehealth will contribute to the underserved and socioeconomic disadvantage and provide better patient outcomes by treating the untreated.
References
McGonigle, D., & Garver Mastrian, K. (2018). Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington: Jones & Barlett Learning.
Shigekawa, E., Fix, M., Corbett, G., Roby, D. H., & Coffman, J. (2018). The current state of telehealth evidence: A rapid review. Health Affairs, 37(12), 1975-1982. http/doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05132
What is an electronic health record (EHR)? (2019). HealthIT.gov: https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr
DISCUSSION 2
Healthcare Technology Trends
The latest healthcare technology trends include telemedicine, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the internet of medical things (IoMT), augmented and virtual reality, and Blockchain systems. The technology trends in healthcare are becoming particularly useful in addressing the unprecedented disruption that has been brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and generating growth by improving the efficiency, productivity, and performance of the nursing practice.
The potential challenge associated with the technology trends in data security and privacy issues is that healthcare organizations struggle to secure patient information adequately. Traditional security techniques, such as strong passwords, are becoming ineffective in providing adequate security to digital information (Filkins et al., 2016). The potential benefit of healthcare technologies is interoperability, which is a characteristic that enables healthcare providers to exchange information with ease and communicate with patients remotely and efficiently. Healthcare technologies’ potential risk is that patient health information becomes increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks that can disrupt sensitive hospital operations and threaten patient lives, inhibiting the quality of patient care delivered (Argaw et al., 2020). The strict regulations imposed by the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) pose organizational and technological challenges (Argaw et al., 2020).
The most promising healthcare technology trends are machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR). ML and AI technologies such as robotics can diagnose and treat patients in the absence of doctors’ physical presence, which enhances patients’ access to care by reducing errors AR and VR technologies can allow doctors to observe organs through high-definition or 3D format. The technologies would improve patient care. For example, surgeons can use AR and VR to prepare for operations using models that would allow them to determine potential outcomes before doing the actual process, which would minimize possible errors (Yu et al., 2018).
References
Argaw, S. T., Troncoso-Pastoriza, J. R., Lacey, D., Florin, M. V., Calcavecchia, F., Anderson, D., ... & Flahault, A. (2020). Cybersecurity of Hospitals: discussing the challenges and working towards mitigating the risks. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 20(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-020-01161-7
Filkins, B. L., Kim, J. Y., Roberts, B., Armstrong, W., Miller, M. A., Hultner, M. L., Castillo, A. P., Ducom, J. C., Topol, E. J., & Steinhubl, S. R. (2016). Privacy and security in the era of digital health: what should translational researchers know and do about it?. American Journal of Translational Research, 8(3), 1560–1580.
Yu, K. H., Beam, A. L., & Kohane, I. S. (2018). Artificial intelligence in healthcare. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2(10), 719-731. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-018-0305-z