Emerging Technology Brief

New health care innovations offer the advanced registered nurse an opportunity to apply emerging technologies in practice to improve quality and patient outcomes. For this assignment, research an emerging health care technology that you think has the potential to overcome current or emerging barriers to care.(Emerging Technology Brief)

Write a 500-750-word brief. Include the following:

1. Provide an overview of the emerging technology and its role/function in health care. Consider its potential for improving access to care and promoting patient safety and quality.
2. Describe ethical or legal issues that would accompany the incorporation of the technology.
3. Explain the nurse’s informatics role in regard to the technology. Provide examples of the roles and job functions.
4. Outline the role of workflow analysis, human factors, and user-centered design concepts for your chosen technology example.

Refer to the topic Resources for samples and resources to help you construct your brief.

You are required to cite three to five sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.(Emerging Technology Brief)

Complete the “APA Writing Checklist” to ensure that your paper adheres to APA style and formatting criteria and general guidelines for academic writing. Include the completed checklist as an appendix at the end of your paper.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Attachments

MSN-APA Writing Checklist-Student.docx

Rubric

Rubric Criteria

Expand All Rubric CriteriaExpand All

Overview of Emerging Technology

18.75 points

Ethical or Legal Issues

18.75 points

Role of Nurse Informatics Technology

18.75 points

Outline Role of Workflow Analysis, Human Factors and User Centered Design Concepts

25 points

Required Sources

3.75 points

Appendix

2.5 points

Thesis Development and Purpose

8.75 points

Development, Structure, and Conclusion

10 points

Evidence

6.25 points

Mechanics of Writing

6.25 points

Format/Documentation

6.25 points

Emerging Technology Brief-sample solution

Introduction

Day-to-day, hospitals and health systems grapple with the prerequisite of traversing the challenges and opportunities presented by the dynamic healthcare environment. For millions of vulnerable rural and urban populations, hospitals remain important if not only the source of health care. Significantly, most people do not have access to health care services, including the opportunities and resources necessary to improve and maintain their health.  Equally, accessing quality care remains an aspiration for most individuals from vulnerable(Emerging Technology Brief) communities. This paper discusses cloud computing as an emerging technology and its role in overcoming existing healthcare barriers.(Emerging Technology Brief)

Cloud computing facilitates the creation, collation, storage, and sharing of healthcare data among providers and professionals. Cloud computing provides a massive shift from conventional data generation, storage, and sharing to digitization, which is more efficient and effective (Faragardi, 2017). The healthcare industry is fast-tracking the adoption of cloud computing to leverage big data analytics and its role in promoting evidence-based and patient-centered care. The significance of cloud computing goes beyond data storage, providing healthcare institutions and professionals with telemedicine and telehealth capabilities. For instance, clinicians can interact with patients remotely with virtual medication and post-hospitalization care planning.(Emerging Technology Brief)

Cloud computing also promotes data analytics and eases the interoperability of healthcare systems. Patient data analytics facilitate the effective formulation of personalized care plans (Faragardi, 2017). Besides, patient data can be easily distributed for gaining insights on health care planning and delivery among healthcare providers, including efficient prescription and treatment protocols.(Emerging Technology Brief)

The legal and ethical concerns of cloud computing include privacy and security of patient data, performance metrics, and compliance with cloud computing use. For example, unauthorized access to sensitive data, such as resident information through hacking, the data can be used to abuse victims leading to critical ethical violations (Faragardi, 2017. Therefore, crucial privacy and security are necessary to avoid unintended access to patient data and information. Equally, users must comply with the standards set to guide cloud computing applications during development and maintenance (Faragardi, 2017). Moreover, cloud computing has predefined legal precepts from performance metrics, including availability and application response time, whose violation can lead to customers’ compensation.(Emerging Technology Brief)

(Emerging Technology Brief)Nurse informaticists are trained on how to utilize healthcare information technology. They have analytical and critical thinking ability to produce aggregated clinical data, care delivery models, and data integration (Krakowski & Mook, 2018)(Emerging Technology Brief). Informaticists focus on technical areas such as systems implementation, data capture, and documentation optimization to support medical teams effectively since the value of clinical data cannot be underestimated (Menkiena, 2021). Therefore, nurse informaticists help clinicians understand the significance of data accuracy, relevancy, and timeliness in clinical intelligence. This is because data provided by clinicians determine the quality of clinical information and the usefulness of the generated intelligence in clinical practice (Nagle, 2021).

In cloud computing, workflow analysis can facilitate the identification and mitigation of human and user-design factors that influence the effective use of cloud computing in healthcare. According to Washington (2008), workflow analysis identifies boundaries of targeted clinical process, establishes a common understanding of a system’s operability and outcomes, and analyzes the existing process functions(Emerging Technology Brief). Besides, workflow analysis can facilitate an understanding of whether the system can be restructured or improved, develop design guidelines, and support new systems considering people and process issues of a new system that automates processes. A study by Littlejohn et al. (2020) revealed that using a Bluetooth-enabled BG meter together with a cloud-based CDSS allows clinicians to efficiently and effectively monitor glucose levels in diabetic patients. This indicates how incorporating human knowledge deficiency identified through workflow analysis can improve clinical efficiency using cloud computing.(Emerging Technology Brief)

References

Biltoft, J., & Finneman, L. (2018). Clinical and financial effects of smart pump–electronic medical record interoperability at a hospital in a regional health system. The Bulletin of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, 75(14), 1064-1068.

Faragardi, H. R. (2017). Ethical considerations in cloud computing systems. In Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Proceedings (Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 166). https://doi.org/10.3390/IS4SI-2017-04016

Krakowski, K. E., & Mook, P. (2018). Nursing, Informatics, and Technology Today. In An Introduction to Nursing Informatics (pp. 39-56). Productivity Press.

Littlejohn, R., Barrientos, R. R., Boxley, C., & Miller, K. (2020). Owning Attention: Applying Human Factors Principles to Support Clinical Decision Support. In Recent Advances in Digital System Diagnosis and Management of Healthcare. IntechOpen. 10.5772/intechopen.92291

Menkiena, C. (February 2021). The Three Essential Responsibilities of a Nurse Informaticist. Retrieved 25 August 2021, from https://www.healthcatalyst.com/insights/nurse-informaticist-3-essential-responsibilities/

Nagle, L. M. (2021). The role of the informatics nurse. An Introduction to nursing informatics (pp. 295-315). Springer, Cham.

Washington, L. (2008). Analyzing workflow for a health IT implementation: an often short-shrifted step is essential in successful IT deployments. Journal of AHIMA, 79(1), 64-65. http://library.ahima.org/doc?oid=77538#.YSZl0Y4zbIU