What would you change about Health Technology?

[Lisa Brooks, BSN, MSN, RN]

A recent study found that electronic health records were one of the top causes of burnout for doctors, but not for nurses. Does that mean nurses love health technology more than doctors?

I am doing some research to better understand how nurses feel about the health technology we use. If you would be willing to answer a few questions, I would very much appreciate it.

Here is a link to a survey if you want to stay anonymous. Or if you want to simply respond to the questions below that is fine too:

1. When you hear the term 'health technology' what do you think it means?
2. When it comes to health technology, what is your biggest struggle?
3. What is your biggest frustration with the health technology you use?
4. When it comes to health technology, what are your biggest goals right now?
5. Generally speaking, what has been one of your biggest challenges in the past year?
6. If you could change one thing about your life in the next year, what would it be?
7. If you had $200 to fix any ONE problem in your life right now, what would that problem be (and what would the fix be)?

Many thanks!

[Davey Do]

When you hear the term 'health technology' what do you think it means?

I think that it means that I need to Google it.

 

When it comes to health technology, what is your biggest struggle?

Googling it.

 

What is your biggest frustration with the health technology you use?

That I have to Google it to find out what it means.

 

When it comes to health technology, what are your biggest goals right now?

Learning the definition of health technology .

 

Generally speaking, what has been one of your biggest challenges in the past year?

Deciding whether to draw Unemployment benefits or Social Security. I went with SS because I knew drawing UE benefits wouldn't be on the up and up.

 

If you could change one thing about your life in the next year, what would it be?

My underwear and socks. Oh- that's two things. Okay: Definitely my underwear.

 

If you had $200 to fix any ONE problem in your life right now, what would that problem be (and what would the fix be)?

I'd fix that hole that was burned in my pocket from having the $200 in it.

 

"Health technology is the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives."

Okay, somewhat seriously now: I believe there is too much focus on following hardened guidelines, for example, completing an entire admission process on a recidivistic psych patient who was just discharged yesterday and readmitted through the ER today due to suicidal ideations after blowing his SSD check on crack cocaine.

That is merely just an example of an unnecessary expenditure of time and resources.

Also, it seems that technology is valued more highly valued  than experience and intuition. Case in point: my medical nurse wife Belinda was recently experiencing  some relatively severe upper abdominal pain. I said, being a dumb old retired psych nurse, "It sounds like your gallbladder".

Belinda wanted to go to the ER, which I supported. Everything looked good- VS, blood work, and other tests. The ERP said, "It sounds like your gallbladder", RX some meds and recommended F/U.

I won't bore you with the details, but after weeks of consulting with some professionals, more tests, and THOUSANDS of dollars in bills, guess what?

A little case of cholecystitis.

I could go on, but won't.

[Lisa Brooks, BSN, MSN, RN]

Thank you @Davey Do! And I appreciate the humor and the example.

[DataJack BSN-RN, BSN, RN]

6 hours ago, Lisa Brooks said:

1. When you hear the term 'health technology' what do you think it means?
   1. Anything that involves computers and devices that make the transfer of health information more convenient and more secure and thereby the execution of care safer. 
2. When it comes to health technology, what is your biggest struggle?
   1. I feel like we are a bit behind as far as technology being integrated in the hospital workflow. Why do we still use paper? Why do devices (like IV pumps) still not interface with the EHR?
3. What is your biggest frustration with the health technology you use?
   1. Bloated user interface and limited interoperability between departments. Certain devices are still not interfacing with the electronic health record. Not every application we use is fully interoperable with the current EHR. 
4. When it comes to health technology, what are your biggest goals right now?
   1. Right now, at my job the biggest goal is to get all hospitals and organization within the healthcare system using one system. There are still branches that use legacy systems that are outdated and, because of culture and politics, they haven't made the leap to the more updated EHR. 
5. Generally speaking, what has been one of your biggest challenges in the past year?
   1. The COVID-19 pandemic stretched the Informatics department in terms of creating new builds pertaining to COVID and educating huge influxes of agency nurses as well as FT nurses. 
      Along with the pandemic, there were challenges in documentation because nurses spent less time with the patient than they normally would to prevent overexposure and possible breach in PPE. A lot of time spent back-documenting and overriding barcode scanning which is not best practice.
6. If you could change one thing about your life in the next year, what would it be?
   1. I would want to learn more about data administration and expand my knowledge to health data analytics.
7. If you had $200 to fix any ONE problem in your life right now, what would that problem be (and what would the fix be)?
   1. My car radio is busted. I would like to replace that to make driving more enjoyable!

 

[Lisa Brooks, BSN, MSN, RN]

@RuggerKJ RN thanks so much for your feedback! This is very helpful.