nurse educators- how has technology effected you recently?

Welcome to the board, Toria!

I'll just start with a broad statement: technology in health care and in nursing education is here to stay.

I'll address just a small bit concerning technology in health care with this post (there's so much to this subject I could go on and on...).

Nursing educators are responsible to their students to ensure a level of competence or at least familiarity with computerized documentation.

Nursing documentation is now moving past the standard desk-top form of computerized documentation to actually collecting data and inputting directly into a mobile system right at the point of patient care. Customized personal digital assistants (PDAs) are ideal for this function and appear to be the wave of the future. (AACH! We were just getting used to computer charting, and now they spring this on us!)

Informatics experts agree that it is only a matter of time before PDAs are a standard part of health care practice.

PDAs have the ability to voice record, have point-of-contact information for the patient with the interdisciplinary health care team, have drug reference resources (ePocrates), receive email, and even have capability to link with a hospital library's Ovid@Hand database for evidence-based journal articles regarding patient care issues. All this and small enough to fit into your pocket or the palm of your hand!

There is a whole new language of terms which goes along with PDAs such as "synch up" using a "cradle," and "beaming" data through "IR ports" (my Trekkie husband would love that last term).

There are very serious issues that need to be addressed with the use of PDA technology: security issues, patient confidentiality, HIPAA regulations, quality of software, and theft of hospital technology.

The authors of the Tooley article caution that practitioners not store patient data on their personal hand-held device unless the institution has policies and procedures in place to ensure confidentiality of data and data transmissions. This is very relevant for nursing instructors, since it is becoming commonplace for nursing students to bring their own PDAs with them to the clinical floor. We need to check if the facility has a policy governing PDAs and if it is "kosher" for our students to use them. Schools of nursing also need to develop their own policies and procedures concerning the use of PDAs both in the classroom and on the clinical floor. Our ADN program has just begun to address this.

Reference

Tooley, M.J., & Mayo, A. (2004, February). Handheld technologies in a clinical setting: State of the technology and resources. Critical Care Nurse Supplement, 28-38.

Wilson, S. (n.d.). PDAs in Nursing Education. Retrieved November 20, 2004, from http://www.pdacortex.com/pda_nursing_education.htm

Concerning technology in nursing education, there is also so much to this subject... simulators, sophisticated mannequins, distance education technology, you name it. I'll address the subject of distance education via the Internet.

Distance education is here to stay. Technology is changing the way nurses practice nursing, as well as the way we instructors teach nursing.

Distance learning is the fastest growing educational modality. Let me make one thing clear: the content is not being replaced or altered in any way, just the means of teaching the content. And this is requiring much adjustment both on the part of instructors and students.

The e-learning market increased from $4 billion in 1998 to $15 billion in 2002. By providing distance education classes colleges/universities are able to increase enrollment numbers and this leads to increased revenue. College/universities are able to meet a need and reap monetary benefits.

Online learning requires much self-directed effort for this modality of education to succeed. Definitely, this modality is not suited for every student, especially on the undergraduate level. However, for those students who are able to make the transition to self-directed learning, online learning is an extremely effective tool. The Benson article states:

"Learners retain 10% of what they read, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, and 90% of what they act on. The level of a learner's engagement with online content is largely determined by the amount of interactivity offered and the integration of the online program with other delivery options. High levels of interactivity require learners to actively participate, greatly enhancing the retention and transfer of learning." (Benson, 2004, p. 60).

The online learners who were successful in one study concerning online education (please see the Halsne reference) were predominately visual learners, female, and spent, on the average, an hour more per week on classwork than did their traditional student counterparts.

The traditional learners in "seated" classes were primarily auditory or kinesthetic learners and male.

In one recent correlational study (see DeBourgh reference), graduate nursing students' satisfaction in online courses was positively associated with the following instructor attributes:

1) Overall instructor rating

2) The promptness with which the instructor recognized and responded to students' questions

3) The instructor's professional behavior

4) The extent to which the instructor encouraged class participation

5) The clarity with which class assignments were communicated

6) The accessibility of the instructor outside of class

7) Instructional techniques that helped with understanding of the course content

8) Timeliness with which assigned work was graded and returned.

These findings suggest that students' satisfaction in a distance-education course is associated with access to and interaction with the instructor, opportunities for participation and recognition during instruction, and timely feedback.

Reference

Benson, E.P. (2004). Online learning: A means to enhance professional development. Critical Care Nurse, 24(1), 60-63.

DeBourgh, G.A. (2003). Predictors of student satisfaction in distance-delivered graduate nursing courses: What matters most? Journal of Professional Nursing, 19(3), 149-163.

Halsne, A.M., Gatta, L.A. (2002). Online versus traditionally-delivered instruction: A descriptive study of learner characteristics in a community college setting. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 5(1)

http://www.gcu.edu/education-news/online-degrees/online-classes.htm

Hope this helps! :)