Technology In Nursing: Dos And Donts

It’s high time we talk about technology in nursing, for the simple reason that, tech has taken over the world. The world has evolved immensely from the era when community nurses used bicycles to make home visits to this day of smart medical devices and remote patient monitoring.

In the early 30s, nurses never thought it would be possible to have pacemakers let alone think intelligent devices would become an integral part of their jobs, they took pride in their work as community health officers and ensured the community’s health needs were well taken care of.

In some African countries, a visit to the clinic would see you and other patients combined, singing a jingle about health, cleanliness and anti-littering among other topics before the clinic opened for that particular day.

Enter technology in nursing, and smart medical devices are now being used to monitor patients. Remote patient monitoring has even been exacerbated by the availability of the internet in most parts of the world. Patient management has also been made easy by different software that can take and process appointments. Not forgetting that sometimes nurses have to access some medical databases when they need help managing a patient exuding certain symptoms, helping them to efficiently carry out their duties.

Technology has become an epicentre of what we do as nurses as it had enabled us in more ways than one to carry out our nursing duties be it administrative or actual nursing duties efficiently and productively. However, technology comes with its own drawbacks and we cannot ignore them. Whenever you as a nurse decide to use technology in its infinite vastness in your field, remember the following:

Dos.

1. Get as much information as you can on the piece of tech you are going to use be it software or a medical device. Remembering a small error can have fatal results.
2. Remember to educate your patients about some of the benefits of using the technology you are trying to get them to adopt. (i.e if a patient is supposed to have a heart rate monitor or any other wearable medical device, take your time to explain it fully to the patient so they will understand its benefits and how to take care of it.)
3. Remember that technology can have glitches that can interfere with or interrupt a patient’s results, thereby increasing the chances of them being misdiagnosed or having any other adverse effects. As a nurse do not leave remote monitoring (and other duties) entirely to technology. Set up a checkup routine to check on your patients physically or by calling them.

Donts.

1. Don’t over-rely on technology sometimes conduct a psychical check.
2. Don’t use systems or devices you do not fully understand to manage or treat patients.
3. Don’t rule out the powerful technology in favour of human intelligence, technology in some cases can complete tasks we can’t.

If you want to be an agency nurse, call us on 03300300031 or send us an email with the subject “I want to be an agency nurse” and we will contact you.