Telenursing in Health Care - Essay Example

Telenursing in Health care Due Telenursing – Healthcare Technology The advancement of technology has ledto many considerable benefits in almost every field of life and healthcare is not an exception. Healthcare is readily embracing the use of latest and innovative technologies not only to improve the delivery of healthcare and streamline operations but also to improve patient outcomes. Telenursing is one of such technologies that have marked their place in the field of healthcare due to the facilities they provide to healthcare professionals. Telehealth or telenursing is a care modality that increases care to the vulnerable communities (Allen, Aylott, Lovola, & Saffarek, 2015). This technology includes the use of various applications based in various environments where registered nurses indirectly provide professional nursing care. Today, a healthcare center can never be successful without the implementation of information system and communication technologies because of their role in improving the system of healthcare delivery. Telenursing facilitates and improves communication between patients and healthcare professionals. Many patients are in such condition that needs them to stay at their homes where they can get medical and psychological treatment together. Moreover, elderly patients also prefer to stay at their homes during treatment because they feel more comfortable being at home. “As most elderly people prefer home care to residential care, the nursing profession must change its current practice” (Arnaert & Delesie, 2001, p. 311). Under such circumstances, the role of telenursing becomes more influential as nurses have to examine the health status of patients while being at distance from them. In addition to this, telenursing has also found its place in healthcare settings because of its role in improving the quality of life of patients (Lavazzo & Cocchia, 2011). In this paper, we will discuss the role of professional nurses in telenursing. Nursing personals play a dynamic role in the successful adoption of healthcare information systems (Hsiao, Chang, & Chen, 2011, p. 150). The paper will also put light on the advantages and disadvantages of telenursing as it applies to their patients. Moreover, the role of telenursing service in assisting a patient discharged from acute care setting and staying out of the hospital will also be discussed. Role of Nurses in Telenursing Nurses have the most dominant role to play in telenursing as they are the ones who have to interact with distant patients through video calling to examine their current health status, as well as to prescribe treatment to them. Nurses and patients come in direct contact through telenursing system. Patients speak about their feelings and health status based on which nurses recommend a change or continuation of the treatment. Nurses use telehealth technology to enhance and improve the nurse-patient relationship for patients with chronic health diseases, as well as for patients on rehabilitation and long-term care. Along with this, professional nurses have also started using telenursing to provide home-base care to patients with non-acute care (Hutcherson, 2001). Advantages of Telenursing The importance of increasing role of electronic health records and information systems in today’s healthcare environment cannot be denied. Telenursing is one of such systems that provide a number of considerable benefits to nursing professionals. Some of the most significant advantages of telenursing include access of care, reduced costs, high patient satisfaction (Hutcherson, 2001). The first advantage of telenursing is ease of access to care. Patients do not have to apply for admission procedures and can get care with less formal documentation. Through telenursing, they remain in contact with the healthcare providers 24/7 and can communicate their concerns to them easily without worrying about the distance. The second advantage of telenursing is reduced costs for nurses, as well as for patients. For nurses, cost reduction occurs because they do not need to visit their patients physically, whereas for patients it happens in a sense that they do not need to pay checkup fees on every visit. Moreover, they also do not need to travel long distances to see their preferred physician. The third advantage of telenursing is high patient satisfaction. Patients feel good when they remain in contact with their healthcare providers, talk about their health status while being at their own places, and get individual care by talking directly to the care provider in the two-way communication. Disadvantages of Telenursing Along with a number of advantages associated with the implementation of telenursing, there also exist some disadvantages and ethical issues of telenursing system. Some of the disadvantages include privacy concern, lack of clients’ access to equipment, and risk of equipment malfunction. Chance of unauthorized access to information stored in the information system is of primary concern for patients. Similarly, nurses are not able to monitor or check some of the main medical stats, such as, heartbeat or blood pressure using telenursing. Moreover, telecommunication system may get troubles at time due to which care can be affected at some critical time. Summing it up, telenursing is one of the most important aspects of any healthcare company because it assists nurses in communicating directly with the distant patients. Implementation of telenursing system in healthcare centers is on rise due to a number of considerable benefits associated with their use. Although some disadvantages also exist for telenursing related to its usage, but they are unable to overshadow the large number of advantages associated with the implementation of telenursing. As far as the recommendations for effective telenursing are concerned, nurses should be very careful while documenting the information shared by the patients in order to keep information sharing private. Similarly, nurses should stand for the installation of the most reliable telecommunication equipment at healthcare centers in order to eradicate the risk of connection problems. Moreover, nurses should take patients in confidence in order to make them reveal their private medical information without any hesitation. Job in Telenursing for me I am currently working at a correctional facility as a registered nurse, where I do inmate admission, follow up with lab work and delegate task to the PCAs and LPN, and follow up with patient care. Although this is an in-house nursing job, but I think a job in telenursing would really assist me in gaining some essential and practical experience of providing distant care to patients. I think it will also fit with my future career goals as, after graduating from Chamberlain, I aim to work as a telenurse at some point in future to experience the usefulness of this technology for nurses, as well as for patients. References Allen, M., Aylott, M., Lovola, M., & Saffarek, L. (2015). Nurses: extending care through telehealth. Stud Health Technol Inform, 208, 35-39. Arnaert, A., & Delesie, L. (2001). Telenursing for the elderly: The case for care via video-telephony. J Telemed Telecare, 7(6), 311-316. Hsiao, J., Chang, H., & Chen, R. (2011). A Study of Factors Affecting Acceptance of Hospital Information Systems: A Nursing Perspective. Journal of Nursing Research, 19(2), 150-160. Hutcherson, C. (2001). Legal Considerations for Nurses Practicing in a Telehealth Setting. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 6(3), Manuscript 3. Lavazzo, F., & Cocchia, P. (2011). Quality of life in people with heart failure: role of telenursing. Prof Inferm, 64(4), 207-212. Read More