Critical thinking and informatics

Technology and nursing assessment Technology and nursing assessment Question Technology has played an important role in enhancing the efficiency of health care. Technology and computerized tools have improved health care, but at the same time it has been argued that the excessive use of technology unaided senses of nurses. On the contrary, some scholars believe that use of patient care technology has enhanced nurses’ assessment. I believe that the use of Patient Care technology has eventually increased with the advancement of technology. This has enhanced the efficiency and quality of health care but it has casted negative impact on the assessment skills of nurses, but has improved clinical assessment (Zalumas, 1995). In contemporary times, nurses’ assessment relies upon technology, which yields much reliable results. It has not negatively affected the assessment skills of nurses and in fact it has transformed the assessment methods that have improved the clinical assessments (Webb & Shakespeare, 2008). Though technological tools may have errors, but the results are more accurate than human assessment.
Question 2
According to the study of Powell-Cope & Patterson (2008), the use of patient care technology has become complex with the passage of time, and this is because of the reason that the before the use of technology, nurses relied more on their sense of sight, touch, smell and hearing to detect the change in the patient (Powell-Cope, Nelson, & Patterson, 2008). Now, the excessive use of technology tools has suppressed the sense of nurses to detect changes in the patient (Powell-Cope, Nelson, & Patterson, 2008). As cited by Powell Cope in ‘ Patient Care Technology and Safety’ nurses relied on change in the skin color and mental status of he patient to determine the changing in oxygen saturation. This reflects that before the invention of pulse oxygmetry nurses were able to identify the oxygen saturation in the patient determining their physical and mental condition. Similar has been cited by Zalumas in ‘ Caring in Crisis’ as he states that the overdependence of nurses on the technology has declined clinical assessment skills (Zalumas, 1995). The legal implication and computerized data has increased the burden on the technical environment. Inducement of Patient Care Technology has provided new dimensions for the clinical practice as nurses are relying more on these technologies that has discarded old methods.
On the other hand, scholars believe that the technology has resolved major issues related to nurses assessment (Dickerson, Brewer, & Kovner, 2007). According to Rudy and Bertman, technology is considered to be as a panacea. They suggest that technology has improved nurses’ assessment skills as technology provides more accurate results than human assessment (Zalumas, 1995). They suggest that the rapid change in the environment has increased complexity of demands for a critical care environment, and therefore, it is essential to develop assessment tools to anticipate these demands (Zalumas, 1995). The study suggests that the patient care technology has provided nurses a new dimension of assessment as previously the assessment were relied heavily on the human senses.. Therefore, it can be concluded that the technology has not declined nurses’ assessment skill, but has improved clinical assessment.
References
Dickerson, S. S., Brewer, C., & Kovner, C. (2007). Giving voice to registered nurses’ decisions to work. Nursing Forum , 42, 132-142.
Powell-Cope, G., Nelson, A. L., & Patterson, E. S. (2008). Patient Care Technology and Safety. In Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (pp. 207-368). Rockville: AHRQ Publication.
Webb, C., & Shakespeare, P. (2008). Judgements about mentoring relationshops in nurse education. Nurse Education Today , 28 (5), 563-571.
Zalumas, J. (1995). Caring in Crisis: An Oral History of Critical Care Nursing. New York: University of Pennsylvania.