Technology and Nursing Practice - Essay Example

Technology and Nursing Practice Professional nursing is an art and applied science. Nursing is a self-motivated profession or as an art of science with a growing body of knowledge that is supported by research within the profession. It focuses on supporting human beings of their wellness/illness continuum. The process of nursing is the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health in various clients all along the lifespan. Nursing is a profession focused on assisting individuals, families and communities in attaining, re-attaining and maintaining optimal health and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing define it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life (Wikipedia, 2006). The current healthcare environment reproduces an increased difficulty in client needs and in rescue systems and, therefore, requires various levels of nursing educational training. As technology is playing a major role in all emerging fields, nursing is also growing in terms of technology. It is quite evident that the use of computer and information technologies in the health care increase at a faster rate and this is in turn going to improve the nursing practice and patient education. These technologies have also entered the teaching practices of Nursing. Modern teaching approaches with new technology-based teaching and learning assignments will increase student attainment, including retention, motivation, and class participation; improve learning and significant thinking, provide instructional reliability, and augment clinical education. Moreover, it will create nursing curricula which links people and information resources into a web of learners’ community, communication, and group association as the nursing student engages in their journey from a student to a trainee practitioner. One of the primary role of the nurse as a health care provider has been one of patient educator. Hence nurse professionals and nurse educators require to look at how the nursing profession can use the potential of the Internet to revamp patient education and transform nursing practice. One of the technologies used is the Knowledge Management System (KMS). Knowledge management is the unambiguous and systematic organization of fundamental knowledge and its related processes. It necessitates turning personal knowledge into knowledge for learners-at-large through the organization of information across guidelines. Generally, managing knowledge focuses on two basic intentions: enabling knowledge distribution and using knowledge to generate society. Specific knowledge management activities that have been employed within the business model have facilitated an organization to focus on acquiring, storing, and utilizing knowledge for such things as problem solving, dynamic learning, planning and decision making. With the interest of developing a technology with the appropriate infrastructure to support learning, the KMS was adapted from the informational web site. This site aims to serve as a knowledge-building community, a knowledge management tool, and a source of information and education regarding orthopedic conditions, arthritis, and sports injury. This website is a successful system to create and provide high quality, easy-to find information for learners at large (Gustafson and Shuyler, 2003). The Nursing Practice Model symbolizes the structural and related magnitude of nursing practice. They present direction for information system design for practice in which nurses organize work groups, communicate within work group members and with other disciplines, interact, make decisions, and create an environment within which nursing care is delivered. Nursing practice models operationally expert standards within a practice organization, defining the parameters of the care environment rather than care practices. Nursing practice models recognize care providers, define the nature of relationships between care providers, and identify communication and management patterns necessary to support care. The practice model in nursing can help to see the data arrangements, information resources, communication features and human factors necessary in the design of successful information systems. Unambiguous specification of the manner in which groups of nurses organize themselves to delivery care to specific patient populations improves the task-specific and user-centered design approaches. The accomplishment of IS uses depends in part on supporting an individual in the course of his or her specialized practice. On the other hand, in circumstances where the professional practice depends on coordination and communication among experts, frameworks that make clear the related features of practice offer additional direction for IS design. Information systems designed to support clinical practice should articulate with and support the Nursing Practice Model. Information systems built to address this information and communication needs hold the greatest promise for enhancing quality of care. Clear understanding of the aspect Nurses’ Roles describe the philosophy of care. Attitude of care governs the scope of practice engaged in by nurses can vary from a family-centered model found in a community health group to the body-system specific focus of an intensive care unit. The constitution and content of computer-based patient records needed under these two very different philosophies of care could vary. The family-centered approach may need with a complex, multi-organizational record structure that links multiple constituents in the family-centered model of care. The body-system specific focus of an intensive care unit, on the other hand, may need sophisticated, detailed record structure including images, flow charts and analog diagrams. Similarly explicit understanding of the factor communication would provide guidance about the necessity of multiple written or computer message services to support a very diverse and formal communication pattern to a limited, ad hoc model of messages to support informal communication patterns. Lastly, it is vital to think the rapid rate of transform of the health care industry while exploring IS design. Attention to a single disciplines practice model during an era of interdisciplinary care trails, cross training of personnel, and a philosophy of medical competence may appear to some to be outdated and non-informative for IS design. The essential contribution to patient outcomes made by all of the health disciplines is well-recognized. Hitherto, each discipline organizes itself in unique ways, and attention to the practice model of individual disciplines illuminates a here-to-fore unspecified component of the practice environments within which IS success is essential to quality patient care. Concentration to practice models for IS design may improve the abilities of the various health disciplines to support care (Anthony, N.D.). In United States changes in the health care system, caused nursing to evolve into multiple level of practice because of the increasing cost and dramatic advances in scientific knowledge. In many jurisdictions, Advanced Practice Registered Nurses are practicing separately and performing procedures previously reserved for physician practice. Nurses with advanced skills are looking for specialized and economic recognition through certification and authority to practice. But lack of stability in education, titling, credentialing, program accreditation, scope of practice and compensation have puzzled the public, legislators, regulators and nurses themselves, and have stalled efforts to make full use of assistance of APRNs to health care. Extra professional education is necessary for an APRN to carry out within a scope of practice beyond customary registered nursing practice. With graduate level education, a nurse further develops conceptual and vital thinking, at an advanced level, knowledge of research and its explanation for practice, and the required necessary therapeutic skills. Graduate education is generally required to produce competent, independent professionals. Criteria for APRN Certification Programs (2002) identify critical elements of advanced practitioner education. According to the criteria, APRNs should graduate from a formal graduate advanced practice program with a concentration in the advanced nursing practice specialty consistent with the certification that the individual is seeking and in accordance with the National Task Force Professional nursing organizations have supported the recognition of advanced nursing practice through the mechanism of voluntary certification. The principle of Criteria for Certification Programs is that an examination must be appraised in light of its planned purposes. Criteria used to evaluate an examination’s sufficiency will differ depending on its intended use. Nurse practice acts make out boundaries of practice. Such as, the granting of regulatory authority should be specific to the practice area. Licensed APRNs are also responsible for practice that reflects the state of the science and the evidence-based rule that form the standard of care. This standard requires ongoing aptitude and quality improvement. Negligence to control advanced nursing practice creates potential hazards for the public. Without licensure, complex activities requiring a high level of specialized knowledge, and independent decision-making may be performed by persons without sufficient training and skill. Professionals are not held legally accountable for their practice if they don’t possess licensure. For most boards of nursing, the current approach to licensure involves reliance on educational credentials, certification examinations and the information provided by the applicant. Therefore, support of educational institutions, accrediting bodies, credentialing organizations, regulators and licensees is essential to produce the best result for the health care of the public (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2002). While boards consider alternate methods of regulating advanced clinical nursing practice, there are three major options: designation/recognition, certification, and licensure. The least restrictive of these is designation/recognition. This choice would not limit the right of any nurse to practice. To a certain extent, it would provide the public with information about nurses with special qualifications. With this approach, nurses with state-recognized qualifications in an area of expertise could receive permission from the board of nursing to represent themselves as specialists. The designation/recognition option would not engage state inquiry into competence. Certification as a regulatory mechanism is used to signify that an individual has met state recognized requirements that include a study of fitness in an area of advanced clinical nursing practice. Under this method practice would not be controlled as long as non-certified nurses do not represent themselves as state certified. The most restrictive alternative would be to issue a special license to practitioners of advanced clinical nursing. This technique limits practice within the area of expertise to those nurses who hold such a license. It would have the potential for limiting generalist practice and the normal development of basic nursing practice (NCSBN, 1986). The requirements for Registered Nurses are increasing regularly at a faster rate. Understanding technological applications in support of classroom and clinical education can make the best use of limited faculty, financial, and clinical placement resources. It is understood that any such strategies can be accomplished while upholding high standards for nursing education. The disadvantages of insufficient numbers of faculty can be solved through the sharing of teaching resources across public, private and community-college nursing programs. This can be attained through complete integration of all campuses using distance learning technologies. Distance technology can be used to facilitate statewide teaching and sharing the delivery of nursing learning resources. Technological advances in simulation and virtual technology now present excellent attachments to “live” clinical education. Hence reducing the obstructions associated with limited experiences, clinical sites, and clinical faculty resources. Technology provides competent and effective choices to expand clinical teaching opportunities. By making suitable use of these technologies, and through teamwork across programs, can be increased the number Registered Nurses meet health care needs (Krautscheid and Burton, 2003). Nurses have a wealth of possessions from which to gain information about genomic technology. Fast shifting genetics methodologies and capabilities have urged the formation of secondary scientific fields of study to produce powerful tools to advance genomics, functional genomics, and proteomics. Nanotechnology is focused on the manufacture of methods and devices at the molecular level and it is a basis for faster and cost-effective methods that likely will transform DNA sequencing methods and gene therapy, and could enable the manufacture of new tissues and organs. Two other specific applications are highly important in emerging genomic technology: fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and laser micro dissection (LMD). Additionally, as proved by current research, nurse researchers are serving as "bridges" to the Technology Age by using genomic technologies to conduct genomic research. These researches can have tremendous effects on disease, providing evidence for practice and for nursing science as a whole (The Honor Society of Nursing, 2005). The practice of nursing continues to progress to meet the changing health needs of customers. Transforms in the rescue of health care are providing chances for nurses to create new roles and expand current roles. New roles in nursing must develop in ways that promote superiority in client-centered care and that are in the public’s best interests. At the same time as nurses’ move along the continuum of experience and education, they obtain additional competencies that are integrated into their practice. This enables nurses to contribute to the health care system in new ways (CAN, 2002). One of the career pathway nurses choose is advanced nursing practice. Advanced nursing practice streams are increasingly being offered in graduate nursing programs to organize nurses for new roles such as the specialty nurse practitioner. References Anthony, M. (N.D.) Nursing Practice Models: Implications for IS Design. [Online], Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Available from: [Accessed 8 October 2006] Canadian Nurses Association (CAN), (2002) Advanced Nursing Practice. Position Statement. Canadian Nurses Association, Ottawa. Gustafson K. and Shuyler, K. (2003) A Case Study: Knowledge Management Systems to Enhance a Nursing Curriculum. Poster Presentation at the 36th Annual Communicating Nursing Research Conference/17th Annual Western Institute of Nursing Assembly in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 10-12, 2003. Krautscheid, L. and Burton, D. (2003) Technology in Nursing Education. [Online], Oregon Centre for Nursing. Available from: [Accessed 7 October 2006] National Council of State Boards of Nursing (2002). Regulation of Advanced Practice Nursing. [Online], 2002 National Council of State Boards of Nursing Position Paper. Available from: < http://www.ncsbn.org/pdfs/APRN_Position_Paper2002.pdf> [Accessed 8 October 2006] NCSBN, (1986) Advanced Clinical Nursing Practice. [Online], Nursing Position Paper. Available from: < http://www.ncsbn.org/pdfs/APRN_1986_Position_Paper.pdf> [Accessed 7 October 2006] The Honor Society of Nursing, (2005) The Interface of Genomic Technologies and Nursing. Nursing’s Focal Points. Excerpt from the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, June 2005. Wikipedia, (2006). Nursing. [Online], Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Available from: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursing> [Accessed 8 October 2006]. Read More