Emerging Technology Brief

Emerging Technology Brief-Sample Solution

Introduction

(Emerging Technology Brief)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 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)

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). 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)(Emerging Technology Brief).

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. 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