Technology has changed nearly every aspect of our lives; the way we communicate, work, exercise, and more. There isn’t a single industry not transformed by it, including healthcare.
For decades, doctors and nurses have heavily relied on technological advancements to assist them in their jobs. While technology cannot replace the personal care doctors and nurses give their patients, it can improve the delivery of quality patient care.
To say nurses are underappreciated is an understatement. Nurses put an equal amount of effort into their job as doctors. Even though a doctor’s and a nurse’s roles differ, the latter look after, care for, and heal a patient on a more personal level. They, at times, also put their lives at risk for others. The COVID 19 pandemic is a perfect example of such a case. When the whole world has shut itself inside houses, nurses are out there, working as front liners, trying to save lives while risking their own.
New and innovative technological equipment can help nurses expedite their work. For instance, the usage of Electronic Health Records (EHR) has considerably reduced the time taken up in manually penning down each patients’ medical and personal details. EHR is just one example. As we proceed, we will talk about many more tech advancements that have made nurses’ jobs much more manageable.
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Digital Education
Having a formal education to qualify as a nurse is mandatory. But, nursing school can become quite expensive. Fortunately, some ways can help you cut down your education costs. While technology, in this case, may not be “directly” influencing a medical process, it sure helps nurses skill up and train to provide better services.
Online schooling is one of them. Online degrees are considerably cheaper than on-campus degrees. If you have already earned your MSN degree, consider enrolling yourself in an online DNP program. If you are wondering how to get a doctorate in nursing online, start researching different virtual med schools. You can also contact the best of both worlds by completing one online and one on-campus degree. Online school has not only made university affordable but also more accessible and flexible in terms of value addition to the self.
Textbooks contribute towards a significant part of university costs. Even used textbooks can cost you a lot of money. eBooks, on the other hand, are much cheaper alternatives to textbooks. Most books are now available in a digital eBook version and can be accessed easily. Some of them are even available free-of-cost.
There are also several educational apps available for diverse fields of study. Nursing is no alien to this invention. If you search nursing on the play store or Appstore, you can easily find many nursing apps. These apps usually include educational information about different medications and their dosage as well as human anatomy.
If you are willing to embrace digital learning tools such as those stated above, becoming a nurse won’t necessarily cost you a king’s ransom.
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Portable Monitors
A large chunk of a nurse’s job contributes towards doing regular patient checkups. Portable monitors help nurses monitor patients’ health without them having to be physically present. Their remote monitoring feature allows nurses to take some time out of their hectic schedule, sit back, and relax. However, it is crucial that nurses physically check on their patients. Portable monitors make the task a lot easier and manageable.
Besides storing patients’ medical statistics, portable monitors also instantly send an alert if there is an issue. For instance, if a patient’s blood pressure goes too high or too low, a single push on the monitor’s button will alert the nurse about the emergency.
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Smart Beds
A smart-bed is a smart device that can monitor patients’ well-being to some extent, even while they are resting. Smart-beds are one of the most useful medical inventions. Even though they can not measure all of the patients’ vitals, they can help nurses manage simple stuff. For instance, smart beds have automatic repositioning features installed. So, now nurses and other healthcare staff don’t have to reposition patients manually.
They can also prevent bedsores by tracking patients’ movements and making minor alterations to their physical positioning. Some smart beds can also measure the patient’s weight and send nurses an alert if they are getting out of bed if there is a risk of the patient falling or tripping.
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Automated IV Pumps
Automated IV pumps are a device that allows nurses to dispense medications through a computerized process. Nurses can adjust the dosage and medication of several drips through various software and technologies. These prearranged IV pumps begin and end at a specific time and give medicines according to a set rate and dosage.
Various IV pumps serve different purposes. Nutrition IV pumps allow giving meals to patients at designated timings. Similarly, self-pumps let patients control the dosage or medication according to the pain-level they are experiencing.
Automated IV pumps can also reduce the risk of human error to a great extent. They are quite handy in times of emergencies. They are quick, efficient, and can save up quite a lot of a nurse’s time.
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Wearable Devices
If there is one thing that is completely transforming the healthcare sector, it is the evolving wearable devices.
Smartphones haven’t only affected the way we communicate. Still, the development of certain apps has also benefited nurses with patient care. Nurses no longer need a stethoscope to measure patients’ heartbeat. Instead, they can use heart monitoring apps on their smartphones to see heart rates and hear breathing sounds. For instance, the pulse oximeter available on IOS measures heartrates and oxygen level with the phone’s camera. The results are quick, instant, and mostly accurate.
Devices that automatically track a patient’s sleep pattern, exercise, respiration, heartbeat, blood pressure, and so much more are also making the job of nurses easy. Such wearable tech reduces the chances of human error, saves time, and allows access to vast amounts of data all at once.
Conclusion
Technology will keep evolving, which means nurses and doctors will have to adapt to newer ways to work. Training will become essential. Nurses will have to give up tasks that are better suited for automation and learn how to survive in a world that will soon be utterly functional on autopilot. Adapting to technological developments can open windows of opportunities for nurses well ahead of their imagination.
If you are planning on taking a nursing career path, knowing the above technological advancements are vital.
