Impact of technology on patient care - Research Paper Example

 Impact of Technology on Patient Care Introduction Technological changes are one of the most prominent transformations that has been observed to impact diverse facets of human life. Contemporary generation has been the recipient of technological applications that significantly enhanced the quality of life. The emergence of the online medium through the Internet revolutionized technological changes in unprecedented pace. As such, major sectors of society have benefitted from vast amounts of information which could be accessed and used. The way we do many things have improved over time. Take for example communication; today’s generations have grown from the era of sending messages through local courier which takes a number of days, to email which can be received instantly. Also, most cooking can be done in a matter of minutes with microwave technology. Our means of transportation has improved over time; cars now run on solar and even electric energy. Likewise, one could not discount the innovation in mobile technology. Now, people could not only call and receive messages from another person at the same time; but also see the person one is conversing with despite expansive geographical distance. Recently, a CNN report about the improvement in Twitter revealed that individuals chat with followers while viewing real time activities and instantly commenting on the account page. As such, advancement in technology has impacted most aspects of life; not leaving behind the area of health and patient care. Among the most noted technological advancement in this field include the application of the electronic health record, telemedicine, wireless communication, sensors and wearable technology, portal technology, mHealth, as well as other advanced medical tools, drugs, and equipment (Jayanthi, 2014). As a result, the delivery of patient care has been noted to be more efficient as interventions are tailored to the unique health needs of culturally diverse clientele. In this regard, the current discourse hereby aims to present the impact of technology on patient care. The paper would initially provide a review of previous studies made on the subject; specifically how technology relates to patient care, how technological advancement impacted patient care, as well as the areas of patient care impacted by advancement in technology. Subsequent sections would expound on positive and negative impacts that technology has impinged on patient care. Review of Related Literature How Technology Relates to Patient Care Advancement in technology has brought great improvements to the level of patient care in the healthcare industry. Just like two sides to a coin, the improvements that result from advances in technology exhibit pressing challenges. The goal of the current discourse is to examine the numerous advantages that improved technology has brought to patient care; while not forgetting to mention a few weaknesses that have come along the way. Despite evidences of costs, identifying them create potentials for determining technological problems in healthcare delivery that needs designing appropriate solutions. According to Thimbleby (2013), “the future of healthcare is about the patient (or stopping people becoming patients)” (p. 167). Therefore, technological advancement, innovation, research and development efforts are undertaken with the paramount goal of impoving patient care. How Advancement in Technology has Impacted Patient Care The advancement in technology has greatly impacted different aspects of the human life, especially in health care (Piette, et al., 2012; Buntin, Burke, Hoaglin, & Blumenthal, 2011; Thimbleby, 2013). The use of E-health systems and tools have been noted to be crucial in improving “health surveillance, health-system management, health education and clinical decision-making, and to support behavioural changes related to public-health priorities and disease” (Piette, et al., 2012, p. 366). As such, improvements in these areas are tantamount to increasing the quality of delivery in patient care due to faster results and more efficient access to information between and among health practitioners who provide expert opinion on the condition of the patients’ health. These outcomes were corroborated by Buntin, Burke, Hoaglin, & Blumenthal (2011) who asserted that “health information technology (IT) has the potential to improve the health of individuals and the performance of providers, yielding improved quality, cost savings, and greater engagement by patients in their own health care” (p. 464). Areas of Patient Care Impacted by Advancement in Technology There are various areas of patient care which have been impacted by advancement in technology. Patient care has to do with the quality of health care service that is been rendered and delivered in the health care sector. The level of satisfaction derived by patients is greatly determined by the quality of care rendered to them. The advancement in technologies used in the delivery of health care services has helped increase satisfaction in patients. There has been improvement in areas of medical equipment, medicinal drugs, heath professional guidance, and even cost of patient care. The improvement in technology in all these areas have enabled the establishment of patient services that are less tedious than the ones used in the 20th century and has resulted in enhanced ease of delivery of patient care (Abelson, Bombard, Gauvin, Simeonov & Boesveld, 2013). On the other hand, some of the improvements in medical equipment and even the newly discovered ones are deemed to be dangerous to patients’ health (Thimbleby, 2013). In fact, Thimbleby (2013) revealed that “it is now obvious that X-rays are not risk-free. Every exposure to X-rays helps a patient yet at the same time exposes them to risk; it is now routine to make a careful trade-off between the benefits and risks” (p. 164). Also, the overreliance on technology has cause errors and lead to medical mistakes. As revealed, “the machines could become the focus of attention if they were not working smoothly” (Price, 2013, p. 283). In the process, the detraction could cause errors in medication administration or provision of needed intervention in patient care. Impacts of technology on Patient care Advantages of Advancement in Technology on Patient Care Technology has evidently provided immense benefits on patient care. The following advantages would hereby be expounded: (1) improved medical equipment; (2) improved medicinal drugs; (3) improved health professional guidance; and (4) generation of significant cost savings. 1. Improved medical equipment The new and improved medical equipment used for administering care to patients have saved the lives of many. The development of new machines such as life supporting machines used in the high Intensive Care Units (ICUs), oxygen supplementing machines and breathing machines have saved lives and improves patient satisfaction ( Devaraj & Kohli, 2011). In addition, other stakeholders in health care, such as suppliers, customers, and other providers’ access to wireless technology assist in facilitating delivery of high quality patient care. Some of these equipment were noted as follows: “AutoID (Auto identification) and DC (Data capture) systems, mainly RTLT (Real time location tracking) and RFID (Radio frequency identification) are wireless technologies used for identification and tracking purposes. Growing health care needs with increasing life expectancy, increasing healthcare cost and challenges faced by health care, such as maintaining a 24/7 year round service with an increased pressure to deliver high quality patient care, shortage of medical staff, medical errors, ineffective medical supply management require effective real time monitoring systems” (Yazici, 2011, p. 1). In addition, there are improvements in bar code technology which were reported to have assisted in preventing medication errors. As revealed, “serious medication errors are common in hospitals and often occur during order transcription or administration of medication. To help prevent such errors, technology has been developed to verify medications by incorporating bar-code verification technology within an electronic medication-administration system (bar-code eMAR)” (Poon, et al., 2010, p. 1698). 2. Improved Medicinal drugs Improved technology in the healthcare industry has led to an increase in the quality of patient care due to the discovery of new medicinal drugs in pharmacy laboratories (Buntin, Burke, Hoaglin & Blumenthal, 2011). According to Studt (2014), “the continuing evolution of new technologies, such as 3-D biological printing, ultra-high-resolution analytical instruments, next-generation sequencing, desktop electron microscopy, gene therapy, translational research, stem cell therapies and microbiomics are changing the traditional rules for drug development” (par. 1). For instance, one of the technological advancement approaches, known as 3-D bioprinting has revolutionized drug development, to wit: “Researchers at Parabon Nanolabs, Reston, Va., have created an Essemblix Drug Development Platform that 3-D prints trillions of copies of medical molecules from scratch, after using a drag-and-drop design interface to test potential combinations against simulated cancer cells. The process allows researchers to design and produce a drug on a molecular level within a matter of days for applications such as prostrate cancer. The ultimate goal of the Parabon development effort is to find a cure for glioblastoma multiforme, a lethal brain cancer” ( (Studt: Industrial 3-D bioprinting, 2014, par. 1). Concurrently, the discovery of antimicrobial drugs have led to improved patient recovery through curing diseases, especially communicable diseases, with greater efficacy (Weatherall, Greenwood, Chee, & Wasi, 2006). Enhanced research and development efforts made possible through advances in technology enabled determination of the manner by which drugs could be taken in “fixed-dose combinations of existing drugs (which) can greatly improve ease of use and compliance; follow-on drugs in the same class may improve safety and efficacy; and paediatric formulations can make childhood treatments simpler and more reliable” (Moran, 2005, p. 1). In fact, to treat active tuberculosis for instance, previous treatments require administration of four (4) separate drugs: ethambutol, rifampicin, isoniasad and pyrazinamide. In contemporary times, these drugs have been combined in one capsule, Myrin P Forte, manufactured and distributed by Pfizer, to simplify administration, dosage, and efficacy (Myrin-P Forte, 2015). 3. Improved health professional guidance Improved technology has raised efficiency in patient care by putting in place health care and other enhanced technological responses and guidance for helping health professionals take the right medicinal step in caring for patients (Price, 2012). Likewise, technological applications, including e-Health systems and the use of the electronic health records, facilitated the exchange of crucial information across health care practitioners. Likewise, technology enabled shared decision making possible (Veroff, Marr, & Wennberg, 2013). As emphasized, “shared decision making is the process by which patients and clinicians jointly review the best medical evidence as well as patients' preferences and values. In shared decision making, potential outcomes are also explored so that the patient can understand the implications of his or her choices and ultimately reach a joint decision with the physician about treatment” (Veroff, Marr, & Wennberg, 2013, p. 286). 4. Cost Savings Improvement in technology has helped to reduce the cost of healthcare. The supporters of technology argue that improved technology in healthcare industry has accelerated cost saving in the process of producing and delivering healthcare services to patients (Thimble, 2013). Moreover, it was validated that technological advancement and applications enabled “shared decision making (which) can generate savings” (Veroff, Marr, & Wennberg, 2013, p. 285). The ability to generate fast results with greater accuracy assisted in minimizing costs and optimizing financial returns. Weaknesses of Advancement in Technology on Patient Care On the contrary, advancement in technology has also generated some weaknesses on patient care. Some of the weaknesses have been noted as follows: (1) machines and treatment methods pose dangers to patients’ health; (2) some antimicrobial drugs have reported to be ineffective; (3) overreliance on machines create work inefficiencies; and finally, (4) there had been marked preponderances to medication errors. 1. Machines and treatment methods pose dangers to patients’ health Some of the newly discovered machines and treatment methods a have exposed patients’ bodies to dangerous radioactive waves. Some of these radioactive waves include Gamma rays, Beta rays and Alpha rays which are very hazardous to human health and can trigger the development of cancerous cells in the human body (Yazici, 2011). 2. Drugs becoming ineffective Some of the antimicrobial drugs that were manufactured have already become ineffective due to the emergence of bacteria that have been tolerant and resistant to these drugs (Weatherall, Greenwood, Chee, & Wasi, 2006). The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) has explicitly disclosed the following examples of antimicrobial (drug) resistance: antibiotic-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB), methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), multidrug-resistant neisseria gonorrhoeae (Gonorrhea), and gram-negative bacteria. For instance, the antibiotic-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) gravely endangers patients with TB since “TB bacteria can no longer be killed by at least the two best antibiotics, isoniazid (INH) and rifampin (RIF), commonly used to cure TB. As a result, this form of the disease is more difficult to treat than ordinary TB and requires up to 2 years of multidrug treatment” (NIH, 2012, p. 1). In fact, it was emphasized that “effective vaccines have not yet been developed for some of the most common infections—notably tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV—and rapidly increasing populations of organisms are resistant to antibacterial and antiviral agents” (Weatherall, Greenwood, Chee, & Wasi, 2006, p. 1). 3. Overreliance on machines create work inefficiencies The overreliance on machines have resulted in inefficiencies in the work setting, including medication errors. Medical professionals tend to rely on medical equipment which sometimes give false or inaccurate results. Moreover, the sound or noise that these machines give to alert professionals cause distractions (Price, 2012). Likewise, there were reports attesting to the safety problems that allegedly emerge from infusion pumps (Thimbleby, 2013). As noted, “modern infusion pumps are driven by computer software (e.g., in their firmware), which can be modified at will by the manufacturers and parameterized by hospital technicians” (Thimbleby, 2013, p. 165). Thus, if and when health care practitioners rely solely on machines and technological applications, any errors that were inadvertently made, would cascade to diagnostic and proposed interventions which could manifest tendencies for creating repercussive mistakes. 4. Preponderance to medication errors The use of technology and its advanced applications increase preponderance to medication errors which emerge from diverse sources: confusion as to administration of drugs in wrong doses or frequencies, wrong patients to whom drugs were administered, overdose or allergic reactions to drugs, as well as the recent problems of patients not responding to antibiotics due to antimicrobial resistance. The latter allegedly ensued from incorrect prescription of antibiotics that eventually led to antimicrobial or drug resistance (NIH, 2015). Recommendations An assessment of benefits and costs of technological advancement, as it impacts patient care, could reveal that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages that were noted. The improvement in the delivery and quality of patient care has significantly been exemplified and manifested through shorter time spent in hospitals, as well as in the development and manufacture of drugs with stronger efficacy for administration to cure various illnesses. Through the discovery of advanced medical equipment, diagnosis of illnesses are made available in the most accurate and effective manner. Likewise, the prescribed drugs are ensured to cater to the distinct illnesses, especially accurately indicating the bacteria that needs to be eliminated. Moreover, the access to electronic medium and access to health information technology by health care practitioners promoted shared decision making and a multi-dimensional approach to patient care. These collaborative and participative health care approaches contributed to cost savings, as well as improved quality of patient care interventions. Concurrently, despite the advantages, the disadvantages noted included irresponsible use of technology and its applications in ways that could endanger the health of patients. Contemporary health problems have been reported regarding strains of bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics (Weatherall, Greenwood, Chee, & Wasi, 2006). Further, over reliance to machines, computer programs, and technological applications had been observed to increase preponderances for medication errors (Price, 2013; Thimbleby, 2013). These findings necessitate the design of strategies and techniques that would address the identified weaknesses. Intensified managerial, administrative, and engineering controls would assist in minimizing medication errors or in ensuring that machines would only be used as crucial tools to assist diagnosing illnesses and facilitating the exchange of information among health care practitioners pertinent to patient care. Conclusion In retrospect, the bottom line is that responsibility and accountability for patient care still relies solely on the qualifications, expertise, and competencies of health care practitioners. Technology should only be used as a tool to assist in improving the delivery of high quality patient care. As emphasized, technology should provide man with benefits that would assist in facilitating application of diagnostic and laboratory procedures through advanced medical equipment. Moreover, research and development in pharmaceutical products led to the discovery of stronger and more effective drugs that cured illnesses and prevented the onset of other health dilemmas. Likewise, contemporary advancement in technology provided opportunities to enhanced collaborative and shared decision making in patient care. In addition, being made aware of the weaknesses that advanced technology generates to potentially compromise or jeopardize patient care, man should be able to appropriately address these weaknesses by being more vigilant and applying the necessary controls. Technology should, therefore, not replace what man actually does: use cognitive and analytical skills to incorporate ethical, moral, and legal standards in providing quality health to the patients. References Abelson, J., Bombard, Y., Gauvin, F., Simeonov, D., & Boesveld, S. (2013). ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF CITIZEN DELIBERATIONS ON THE HEALTH TECHNOLOGY PROCESS. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 29(3), 282-9. Buntin, M. B., Burke, M. F., Hoaglin, M. C., & Blumenthal, D. (2011). 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