Nursing Technology Questions

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Specializes in PICU.

Hello all,

I'm a nursing student, and in one of my nursing classes, we are discussing how nurses use technology on their units, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of it.

I am supposed to ask several nurses some questions, and then write a short paper based on their responses. If any of you lovely nurses who are currently working would like to answer one, a couple, or all of these questions, I would GREATLY appreciate it!

Thank you in advance!

When it comes to technology on your unit/in your workplace

1. What do you like and dislike?

2. What data are missing that you would like to have?

3. How are data presented in the system (e.g., text, graphics, and pictures)?

4. Are patient-educational materials available?

5. Are the hospital's policies and procedures available online?

6. Can nurses access the World Wide Web and library databases from their workstations?

7. Are online textbook references available?

8. How many computers are provided on a particular unit? Is this a sufficient number?

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When I did bedside nursing I appreciated that everything was electronic...no more manual blood pressures or shooting cardiac outputs. It made assessing changes more quick, as well as freeing up time for actual patient care. I also loved the electronic record - most systems made charting very fast! Easy to find history, etc. Unfortunately that meant nursing leadership loved to make new things to fill out, lot so duplicate charting! So that took away from patient care. Most data was text, some systems allowed you to view graphs of trends like VS or labs, but it was rare if we used it. Few pictures, some like wounds, or a body image on the screen in the ER and you just click where an injury was instead of describe it.

Yes pt ed and hosp P&P were avail online and easily accessible. Yes you could usually access the internet, no online textbooks but yes other research databases. Number of computers varied. Usually enough unless it was change of shift and the docs were there rounding. Varied per facility.

Good luck! If you want a CRNA perspective on the same thing let me know!

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Why aren't you going to a local hospital or clinic and asking the working nurses there? You'll learn a lot more if you can see this in action, and get extra credit for saying "I observed X,Y, and Z and the nurse told me that..." ... and besides, you don't even know who we are.

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Specializes in PICU.

AliNajaCat, I attempted to interview a couple of the nurses on the unit I'm on for clinicals, but they've been having staffing issues lately, and have been understaffed. The nurses there have each had about 6-7 patients, and are hustling just to get every one taken care of. They didn't really have time to answer these kinds of questions, unfortunately. I have a couple nurses in my family who I've asked, but I just wanted to get a few more perspectives, since everyone seems to have slightly different answers

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Specializes in PICU.

Missnurse01,

thank you so much for your responses! I really appreciate you taking the time to share all of that with me! I can't even imagine not having everything be electronic lol. I guess since I am just starting out, this is just what I'm used to! I can definitely see where it would be super time consuming to have to do things manually and chart everything on paper! It's awesome how far technology's has come to allow more time for patient care! :)

Again, thanks for your responses! Have a great weekend :)

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AliNajaCat, I attempted to interview a couple of the nurses on the unit I'm on for clinicals, but they've been having staffing issues lately, and have been understaffed. The nurses there have each had about 6-7 patients, and are hustling just to get every one taken care of. They didn't really have time to answer these kinds of questions, unfortunately. I have a couple nurses in my family who I've asked, but I just wanted to get a few more perspectives, since everyone seems to have slightly different answers

Good answer, and thank you for such a reasoned one. Try grabbing some in the cafeteria or break room, or in the ten minutes before report, too. :)

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Specializes in PICU.

The cafeteria is an awesome idea! I didn't even think of that. Or, even better the coffee shop in the hospital...there are ALWAYS nurses around there ;)!

Thanks for the idea, AliNajaCat!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
The cafeteria is an awesome idea! I didn't even think of that. Or, even better the coffee shop in the hospital...there are ALWAYS nurses around there ;)!

Thanks for the idea, AliNajaCat!

Offer to buy them a cup, and you'll probably seal the deal.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Bring donuts - they will come to you. ;)

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

If a student approached me with coffee, donuts, candy, Girl Scout cookies, tea, an energy drink or delicious pineapple, I would definitely answer all their questions. Why isn't this happening to me yet??!?!

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

I'm about to grill some pizzas and I'm in a fantastic mood so I'll be happy to answer the posed questions:

When it comes to technology on your unit/in your workplace

1. What do you like and dislike?

I like that our system alerts us when vitals have been done and when new orders have been put in. That said....I have to constantly refresh and check and check and check and check for these things. If I haven't, then I'll never know. When I'm waiting for new pain medication orders to come in for a patient that is in a lot of pain and also having other issues, I may not see these orders to review and apply them and then pharmacy gets delayed because of this so my meds get delayed. It's kinda weird to me.

2. What data are missing that you would like to have?

We have a lot and I am fairly new still so I'm not really sure what I still need. There are some things that are oncology-specific and have to do w/ our new system for implementing orders and administrating chemo but it's still kinda vague in terms of what I think would be nice to change. I would probably like more upfront info about baseline creatinine levels or history of delayed methotrexate clearance or if the patient is a "culture if spike" (spike as in fever) because we usually have to dig through the H&P notes to find this information.

3. How are data presented in the system (e.g., text, graphics, and pictures)?

We have text and graphs. We can get a line graph for trends in vital signs which is more of a nice-to-have thing rather than a "I use this all the time and without it I would be lost" thing.

4. Are patient-educational materials available?

Yes, we have specific things to use to start teaching processes w/ parents on things like NG tube care that are very vital.

5. Are the hospital's policies and procedures available online?

We use the intranet that utilizes the MS Sharepoint application. It's pretty nifty but sometimes, if keywords are lacking, it's hard to find certain things.

6. Can nurses access the World Wide Web and library databases from their workstations?

Yes to both.

7. Are online textbook references available?

If by textbook you mean our pharmacy references, then yes. Otherwise, everything is an application through Lippincott (i.e. Up to Date).

8. How many computers are provided on a particular unit? Is this a sufficient number?

There are 15 that are specifically for nursing staff to use to chart. In general, the number is closer to 19 or 21 (at any given time 1 or 2 might be having a touch of dementia and not working properly). This is usually enough and doesn't count the ones that are in the rooms and med room (which is about 18 -- again assuming they are all working).

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