Power of Nursing/RoadScholarsRN

Nursing is currently experiencing a surge of innovation and practice change with the use of technology.  With electronic health records, robotic surgery, numerous clinical devices and home telemonitoring-we are truly in the brave new world of electronics.  Some of these advances serve our patients well and some are confusing.  As a member of the baby boomer generation, I had to play catch up with the use of technology.  Likely having  completed my MS and PhD during the 80s and 90s helped but I see some of my colleagues dropping to the side to get out of the fray of technology.  Cell phones are a great example.  I can use my iPhone to search databases and gather facts while at the patient’s bedside.  However what happens when the phone rings with a personal call while I am helping a patient get ready to go to surgery?  Should patients be able to text me to find out about post discharge needs or is this a violation of confidentiality and improper boundaries in the nurse patient relationship?  I do know that technology has “enabled” me to work about 8-10 additional hours per week.  I am available by text message or email to respond to work issues and I am expected to stay connected.  Like most things in life, everything has its pros and cons.  I love gadgets and I am all for advances that support patient care and enhance efficiency.  Do they ever take a holiday?  What do you think?  What will technology  bring the table for nurses in the next decade?

I am taking a class in the use of media and I made this cartoon, I hope you like it. Just click on the link

http://goanimate.com/videos/0fLKzAHZU7DA?utm_source=linkshare

One of my committments as a nurse is to keep up a reading practice and stay current with issues, trends and the lastest information I can find about nurses and nursing.  I subscribe to Linked In, Facebook and Twitter as well as several professional organizations that send me daily briefings.  For example, the ANA sends a simple list of headlines that are in categories ranging from HealthCare industry news to legislative updates to clinical developments.  I can open the link to each item and read a short piece to stay up to date.  I also subscribe to several journals that are relevant to nursing education which is my current practice area.  I also try to attend at least 2 professional conferences each year.  None of this makes me an expert but it does help me stay current.  I have also begun to attend free webinars that are sponsored by various healthcare organizations.  Today I attended a one hour lecture on State Requirements for approval of distance education programs in nursing.  The four speakers had the latest information on this complex issue.  The webinar was developed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and I was able to attend from my computer.  What resources do you use to stay current?  Please  post your ideas and any resources you would like to recommend. Thanks Diann

More and more pressure is being applied to nursing to demonstrate accountability for patient outcomes.  Pay for performance measures that have been implemented by Medicare and Medicaid mean that preventable complications will not be covered for payment.  So if patient develop decubiti, post op wound infections, urinary infections following catherization and pneumonia following placement on a vent, the care can be deemed substandard and the cost of care must be covered by the hospital.  As we face the challenge of accountability not simply for the process of care, but for the outcome of care it means that nurses must make an effort to study their interventions and make sure that the best possible evidence based care is being used for all patients.  Does you health system provide a way for you to gather information about best practice for procedures and completion of nursing care?  How does your system educate staff about the latest nursing research findings?  Do you personally know how to access these findings online and are you given the time and resources to complete this review.  I would be interested in hearing from you about your work with nurse sensitive outcomes in your field and in your setting. Thanks much, DIann