Point of Care Technology Group F

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How has Point of care technology changed the way we care patient in and out of the hospital?

Khristina,

I do agree that computers will save the world one day. The information travels so fast that for example we have already all the medication in the databases before we apply these medication to the patient. Today in our clinics we experience the point of lack of mistake due to technological improvement because we have to scan ,scan and then read instruction and then deliver medication, so we have 4th time medication check up before administration, as opposed to ATI three times medication check ups. This is revolutionary approach and as the things look today from this perspective we cannot predict what is the next big thing that will happen.

Good point your post is resourceful.

Zoran

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Amber Shanice,

this is the exact point of view I have in my mind, check -up and check -up and check -up, and then scan and machine checks -up, so no matter where I was in my care plan and patient care, I know I can deliver the right medication, the right route, at the right time,to the right client, at the right dose, and document it by the means of scanner and click signature. You are absolutely right the technology has made the entire difference.

Another less favorable characteristic of technology would be the plethora of information that can drive us care providers to the brinks of information overload and fatigue.

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According to the authors of the paper Information Technology: Advancements in Healthcare by Rivers, Blake and Lindgren from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing the health care arena is inundated with advanced in IT. I like to stop and reflect on the exact wording that they used the arena is inundated meaning flooded by the advances in information technology and this represents the challenge for nursing. The challenge will be how to educate the nurses of today to use this flooding of informatics tecvhnolgoy in they every day care. First of all nurses need to care for patient in every day fashion. They need to administer the hygiene, medication, orders, updates, answer the calls, talk to families, talk to patients, talk other nurses and staff on unit, talk to doctors, not only one doctor but multiple specialist. This is not the end of the tasks they need to perform on a daily basis, they also need to document all these events. Nurses need to get additional education on how the system has changed and how can they put this in their every day. I just got fatigued of thinking of all the aspect of nursing care not to mention how to perform all of them and DOCUMENT it according to the latest standards.

Authors also ask the question about who knows what is the next big thing to happen and how will this affect nurses, how it will be possible for nurses to keep up with all this advancement with having LIMITED time frames to perform. This could also be a source for the new mistakes in every day care, caused by priority issues.

Authors also underline the importance of nurses to actively participate in the development of the new technologies, so that new technology brings help and not burden to every day care.

Reference:

Rivers, FH, Blake CR and Lindgren. Information Technology: Advancements in Healthcare. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, School of Nursing taken from Information Technology: Advancements in Healthcare on 4/10/2014

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Great point, Zoran. If nurses are not properly trained with the new technology, how efficient can it be? It can cause more unnecessary stress and like you said...mistakes. Training is an essential component to any new implementation of technology and hospitals need to make sure that their staff properly understands the system and its benefits. More chances than not, if people understand the need for the new technology rather than just being made to do it, they will more apt to acclimating to it.

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That is a very interesting article, Zoran. I do agree that the issue with technology is not what we can accomplish with it, but rather fully comprehending its full capacity. Point of care technology is constantly changing and evolving, and we have difficulty keeping up with it. For example, someone mentioned earlier that the floor we have been on this semester recently implemented barcode scanning for medication administration. We were there on the very first day, and we have been there since then. We have had the opportunity to watch firsthand what happens when a new point of care technology is introduced. There is always a learning curve, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the challenge of these technological advances is that they happen quicker than we as humans can adapt to the changes. So I suppose the question is at what point does point of care technology become too overwhelming, and how are we supposed to keep up in order to maintain the best evidenced based care?

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I agree with everyone that point of care technology has been a great asset to the nursing field and nursing care. In my opinion, the scanning of the arm bands has been a wonderful idea in helping to minimize medication errors. We all know that many unnecessary deaths have come about in the hospital just from medication errors alone and also with transfusions. In an article that I was reading it stated that '' more patients die from receiving the wrong blood than from any other transfusion error. A New York study found that approximately 1 in 12,000 transfusions went to the wrong person''. These errors could easily be minimized or eliminated by scanning the patient's arm band with the ordered bag. Also, using an electronic method of entering information also reduces many errors. Poorly handwritten orders for medications from some physicians are now made clearer. It reduces the guessing in trying to read an order since it is now clearly typed out in a computer. All these methods help to provide better patient care and to prevent harm. However, I know that it still has its shortcomings.

Reference : Grotting, J.B., (2002). Literature Review. The Effect of Barcode-Enabled-Point-of-Care Technology on Patient Safety.

Retrieved from https://www.premierinc.com/safety/topics/bar_coding/downloads/whitepaper_barcode.pdf

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Julia,

I agree with you that the electronic recording makes it easier for nurses to just copy and paste what they have seen before them. Electronic recording can lead to inaccurate information being plugged in when people are second guessing what they have gotten from their observation from what they see others had. I know from my experience, I would get a respiration rate that was way different from what has been charted all day, and maybe an hour prior, and it makes me second guess if I took it right. I don't know how many times I have seen a respiration rate of 18 being documented all day on numerous patients.

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Shanice, When I had to get a new doctor and he was asking me what felt like a million and one questions about my health..... I was confused at first because this was prior to starting nursing school but now I understand he was trying to get my past medical history to provide the best possible care to me. He did have his computer in front of him while he was asking these questions so there was a bit of a distraction there. If he didn't have his computer, then he could of forgotten some important questions to ask me or if he used pen and paper then the person who was entering the information into the computer, could possibly type the information in wrong because of poor handwriting or possible confusion. I believe that the benefits outweigh the risk when allowing medical professionals view your medical history that way they are all receiving all the information and not some people getting "story A" and other people getting "story B." Patients do forget to tell the doctor or nurses everything and having everything compiled into one source allows correct information being passed on to everyone involved in the care of the patient.

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I agree with a previous statement that said advancements in point of care technology should make a nurse's performance more efficient but not easier. I believe the sentiment is that advancements in technology are only useful when used properly by good work ethic from well-trained nurses.

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An article I read makes a good point about consistencies in point of care documentation; a point that some of yall have touched on already. I, too, have second guessed my assessment based off of previous assessments. This article is entitled Poor Reporting of Outcome Beyond Accuracy in Point-of-Care Tests for Syphilis: A Call for a Framework. The study looked at the effects of point of care documentation on controlling a syphilis epidemic. The conclusion stated, "Although POC screening tests for syphilis were generally favourably evaluated across a range of outcomes, the quality of evidence was compromised by inconsistent definitions, poor methodology, and documentation of outcomes. A framework for standardized reporting of outcomes beyond accuracy was proposed and considered a necessary first step towards an effective implementation of these metrics in POC diagnostics research." In other words, the actual technology is useful but inconsistent documentation is still a hindrance to care. I have made it a personal habit to document what I see and what I assess no matter what is previously recorded. If I have questions than I ask. Other than that, I have to do my part in saving lives.

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Reference:

Jafari, Y., Johri, M., Joseph, L., Vadnais, C., & Pai, N. P. (n.d.). Poor Reporting of Outcomes Beyond Accuracy in Point-of-Care Tests

for Syphilis: A Call for a Framework. Poor Reporting of Outcomes Beyond Accuracy in Point-of-Care Tests for Syphilis: A Call for a

Framework. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/art/2014/465932/

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The point of care for patients has come a long way especially when considering the devices we now have that allow the medical staff to check certain labs and vitals when needed. Technology today allows us to have point of care testing which includes I-Stat, ABG's, Glucose testing, and Pulse Ox/SatO2 monitors. With these devices we are able to retrieve vital information which could potentially save a patients life and the process is simple...mostly just involving the nurse who is at the bedside 24/7. This ultimately provides better quality care for patients in the hospital, as well as for some who are able to take some of these devices home (e.g. glucose monitor and Pulse Ox/Sat02 monitor. There are some other devices that also play an important factor with patients at home such as the use of telecommunication technology to assess, diagnose, and in some cases, treat people who are a distance from the health care provider. Nurses, physicians, radiologists, psychiatrists, and others use this technology via telephone, computers, interactive videos, and teleconferencing. This has proven to be very beneficial overall, but especially with the rural areas. (Wyatt, T. n.d. Information Technology in the Clinical Setting.(pg. 267)

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