Technology in Healcare Assuming Role a Lead

Technology in Healcare

assuming role a lead person a technology advisory committee a large regional medical center. The medical center struggled ongoing problems related errors surrounding patient medication, misplaced lab results delays updating patient charts.

Technology in the healthcare field: Improving communication

At our institution, there are several serious issues that have arisen amongst our healthcare providers. The allegations carry enough weight that it is vital that our hospital respond to them and provide an effective solution in a timely manner. Physicians are complaining that they must often operate with incomplete or delayed patient information, which can compromise patient health and inhibit effective treatment. Nursing staff have likewise complained about inaccurate and incomplete information from physicians and that lab and radiology orders are difficult to track, once again compromising patient care. Nursing assistants make frequent errors when recording patient vital signs and there has been a rise in critical incidences related to incorrectly medicated patients. Almost all problems are in some way the result of incomplete, inaccurate, and delayed information.

Wireless technology can play a critical role in improving communication between staff members and facilitating information exchanges. "Though healthcare organizations have been slow to embrace wireless technology, more and more organizations are finding that they can save money and improve care with this technology, and as it eliminates the need for wired connections, it increases mobility of the patients and healthcare professionals, invariably improving treatment outcomes" (Igbokwe 2007). When one physician updates the information of a patient through the hospital's electronic record-keeping system, another physician treating the same patient can access the same information if the hospital is connected wirelessly.

Terminals stationed throughout the hospital can enable near-instant access. "The benefits of wireless technology in healthcare could be far reaching if used in an appropriate manner. Doctors could store information in real-time, access patient records and medical reference materials from the Internet, [and] send e-mails through handheld devices that are connected to a server. This would ease the burden of doctors and medical students alike as it impossible to store all the information one needs for patient care in one's memory" (Igbokwe 2007).

Using wireless connectivity to transmit information between employees is already common in many industries, including retail where stockroom employees may use such technology to monitor inventory. It is all the more vital to capitalize upon such technology in healthcare, where the risks of incomplete information are far greater in terms of incorrectly administered medication and treatments. "It is now possible to integrate laboratory, medication, and physiologic data alerts into a comprehensive real-time wireless alerting system" (Bates et al. 2001).

Wireless technology can also expedite the ability of results to be used by physicians. An excellent example of how this has facilitated treatment can be seen at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, in which "wireless technology has allowed the transmission of 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) waveforms from remote locations to handheld computers of cardiologists. There is no significant difference between in interpretation in the results using the handheld liquid crystals display (LCDs) screens and the traditional paper but the immediate accessibility of the results leads to a reduction in treatment time" (Igbokwe 2007). The use of wireless technology in high-risk specialties such as obstetrics has become increasingly vital: fetal monitoring through wireless cardiotocography has reduced complications and the technology "have potentials for being adapted for other multi-patient monitoring applications" (Igbokwe 2007).

Of course, it is not enough to merely introduce wireless technology to a hospital. The way that information is stored must also be accurate and easily searchable. First and foremost, electronic health records must be comprehensive as well as "available at the point of care and accessible throughout an entire institution (Spiegel 2004). In addition to physicians entering the records themselves there should be standardized, mandated "computerized reporting of lab records" so no information is lost (Spiegel 2004). There should also be "computer-based procedure reminder systems," which will better ensure that nursing assistants and new staff members record patient vitals accurately. Finally, "software that supports diagnosis and treatment decisions with clinical guidelines" can also reduce errors and also protect the hospital against potential liabilities when initial, human-generated diagnoses and treatments are incorrect (Spiegel 2004).

With the ideal use of technology, technology can act as a kind of a fail-safe mechanism to prevent errors. Healthcare providers often are operating under time constraints and are extremely stressed and tired. Additionally, because of staffing shortages, there is also a higher percentage of nursing assistants doing the jobs of nurses and new nurses. A "computerized physician order entry (CPOE, a system in which a doctor enters a medication order directly into a software application designed to detect errors) and (2) bar coding medications to ensure that the right hospital patient gets the right dose of the right prescription at the right time" can reduce incorrect dosages of medication to patients and prevent errors from having severe ramifications (Spiegel 2004).