Benefits and Limitations of Selected Safety Enhancing Technology

Technology plays a vital role in nursing practice within the current dynamic health systems. However, the technology is changing rapidly and there is a need for effective application of information expertise in all the processes of the nursing professional in order to cope with the change. Nursing informatics emphasizes on devising solutions to promote information communications and improve the quality of the patient care. Thus, the informatics knowledge and skills are necessary to assist in the designing, implementation, selection and evaluation of the health care systems.  The following essay aim at comparing the benefits as well as the limitations of some selected safety enhancing technology. Human factors and other unsafe practices in technology will be highlighted. Moreover, an evaluation of dynamics of communication applied to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration to promote patients’ outcome will be addressed.

Comparing Benefits and limitations of selected safety enhancing technology

The computerized provider order entry assists the clinicians in the placement of orders directly into electronic systems and the order is directly transferred to the recipient. This means that the act of handwriting orders that was used in the past is avoided and the inpatients as well as the outpatient settings are improved. In particular, the computerized provider order entry was established to enhance the security of medication orders but they can further allow electronic ordering of processes, consultations and tests (Nuckols et al., 2015). The occurrence of errors during the process of ordering is prevented by the application of CPOE system by ensuring that the orders are complete, legible and standardized. The system ensures that the files of the patients are not misplaced. In this perspective, there is the enhancement of patients’ care and improvement of communication between the departments of nursing specialists during practices.

In spite of the many benefits that are associated with the computerized provider order entry systems, there are some limitations involved. The adoption of the system by organizations is slow due to the substantial costs incurred in terms of money and the overall technology resources (Kruse, & Goetz, 2015). In large hospitals, the order entry systems are very expensive and before implementing the systems, an accurate analysis of the organization’s processes must be conducted. After the installation of the systems, nurses are required to have extensive practices and training to be proficient with them. The application of CPOE systems brings about the privacy as well as the security concerns. The dependency of this new technology may make some specialists to forget how to carry out some basic tasks. It may also lead to alteration of the communication patterns and practices due to workflow issues.

Basic safety principles and unsafe practices

The application of computerized provider order entry systems are used with the decision support in order to promote maintenance of the communication loop for the providers who electronically order diagnostic consultation and tests. Nonetheless, some CPOE systems related human practices can lead to safety risks. For instance, lack of inspection or monitoring the systems can result to creation of hazardous conditions since the entry of data may be incomplete or excess. Additionally, the electronic entries with free text have a high capacity to introduce dangerous abbreviations which can lead to misinterpretation of data and cause errors (Kruse, & Goetz, 2015). The understanding and knowledge of computerized alerts is essential in boosting the skills of healthcare professionals. Thus, electronic intervention needs to be carried out to eradicate unsafe medication abbreviation usage.

Methods of communication used to improve interdisciplinary collaboration to improve patients’ outcomes

One essential method that should be used to enhance the interdisciplinary and promote patients’ outcomes is the application of institute team huddles. The method helps in building various communication strategies that improve hospital-wide message. For example, interdisciplinary meetings are conducted to allow the discussions about patients who require care that is more complex.  Moreover, it assists in the evaluation of the workload for the nurses and ensures the necessary adjustments are made to prevent them from being overwhelmed by their tasks. The technique of communication reviews the issues that affects the performance of the nurses’ practice and addresses various ways to resolve them. Another method to improve interdisciplinary collaboration is the encouragement of participation in the multidisciplinary rounds (Reeves et al., 2017). The method helps the specialties to discuss patients’ plan of care. Implementation of situational briefings is also a technique of improving patient care. It provides a platform for the analysis of the patients’ current clinical status. Thus, effective communication is required in healthcare systems to ensure that patients achieve a quality care and treatments.

Recommendation

Healthcare organization need to provide exceptional care of all the patients through the adoption of a wide team based culture. In particular, the adoption of this technique allows the sharing of certain principles and values which are then transparently communicated to all team members including the patients who need intensive healthcare.  Thus, implementation of effective strategies in healthcare should be initiated to achieve satisfaction and performance of both the specialists and patients.

Conclusion

The use of new technology such as the computerized provider order entry increases the performance of the nurses’ practices. Proper filing of patients’ information assist in reviewing their information and make important decisions on the type of diagnosis the patients should be enhanced. Furthermore, the method of communication used in healthcare organizations determines the level in which it will improve the overall performance of the members. Thus, to improve patients’ outcome, there is escalating need to use most effective methods of communication.

References

Nuckols, T. K., Asch, S. M., Patel, V., Keeler, E., Anderson, L., Buntin, M. B., & Escarce, J. J. (2015). Implementing computerized provider order entry in acute care hospitals in the United States could generate substantial savings to society. Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety, 41(8), 341-350.

Kruse, C. S., & Goetz, K. (2015). Summary and frequency of barriers to adoption of CPOE in the US. Journal of medical systems, 39(2), 15.

Reeves, S., Pelone, F., Harrison, R., Goldman, J., & Zwarenstein, M. (2017). Interprofessional collaboration to improve professional practice and healthcare outcomes. The Cochrane Library.