In this Discussion, you will reflect on your healthcare organization’s use of technology and offer a technology trend you observe in your environment. Healthcare Information Technology Trends Essay Examples

To Prepare:

• Reflect on the Resources related to digital information tools and technologies.
• Consider your healthcare organization’s use of healthcare technologies to manage and distribute information.
• Reflect on current and potential future trends, such as use of social media and mobile applications/telehealth, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled asset tracking, or expert systems/artificial intelligence, and how they may impact nursing practice and healthcare delivery.

Post a brief description of general healthcare technology trends, particularly related to data/information you have observed in use in your healthcare organization or nursing practice. Describe any potential challenges or risks that may be inherent in the technologies associated with these trends you described. Then, describe at least one potential benefit and one potential risk associated with data safety, legislation, and patient care for the technologies you described. Next, explain which healthcare technology trends you believe are most promising for impacting healthcare technology in nursing practice and explain why. Describe whether this promise will contribute to improvements in patient care outcomes, efficiencies, or data management. Be specific and provide examples. Healthcare Information Technology Trends Essay Examples

Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends

Healthcare information technology is a promising field in the healthcare industry. The encroachment of technology in the healthcare field brings with it different benefits and potential risks. Throughout different years, stakeholders have developed different technologies to improve patient care, safety, and efficiencies. In nursing practice, technology is vital as it helps in patient care and safety by aiding decision-making, planning, and effectiveness. Different organizations have adopted diverse technological approaches to manage their patients better. Assessing these trends in technology identifies their benefits such as better patient care, improved patient outcomes and risks such as privacy and confidentiality concerns, while the most promising ones are artificial intelligence (AI), telehealth, and the internet of things
Some of the current and future trends in healthcare technology include AI, telehealth or telemedicine, patient portals, and the internet of things. Internet of things involves the use of mobile applications and wearable devices to track and prevent chronic diseases. The devices include electrocardiogram and patient monitors. Some of the gadgets include those that measure skin temperatures, blood pressure, and glucose levels. This technology improves patient experience and satisfaction while reducing healthcare costs. Moreover, organizations can extract data from these remote monitoring devices through the patient data management systems, restructure them, and allow the healthcare provider to utilize them, leading to accurate diagnoses. One risk associated with these technologies is patient privacy and a high risk of data breaches if not well managed (Yuehong et al., 2016). Therefore, this technology positively impacts patient care.
Telemedicine and telemedicine are some of the significant technological trends that positively impact patient care. Telehealth focuses mainly on a broader scope of remote healthcare services, including non-clinical services, while telemedicine specifically addresses remote clinical services. These technologies allow healthcare providers to reach patients or communities in remote areas. In telemedicine, the providers can communicate among themselves or with the patients and extract information from the wearable devices (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). The organization that I am working in has vastly adopted telehealth and telemedicine. Telehealth increases healthcare accessibility and affordability since it allows for remote monitoring, synchronous and asynchronous telehealth modalities. However, some of the risks include failure to address privacy, cultural acceptance, and situations where in-person visits are more urgent than virtual meetings (Nelson, 2017). Therefore, these are promising technologies that care providers should adopt to increase patient care. Healthcare Information Technology Trends Essay Examples
Artificial intelligence is used in healthcare for the diagnosis, developing treatment protocols, drug development, and patient monitoring. Most innovative healthcare machines or technologies are laced with AI to increase accuracy, efficiency, and effectiveness. For instance, users can utilize AI to analyze big data in electronic health records. Moreover, the AI eye diagnostic tool captures accurate pictures of the retina, improving diabetic retinopathy diagnosis. AI is also important in deep learning algorithms that allow for prompt and early diagnosis of diseases which positively impacts the patient care trajectory. One of the risks associated with AI is the high chances that the AI-driven machines will be wrong, leading to patient injuries, care errors, and healthcare problems (Yu et al., 2018). Thus, managing AI systems requires a comprehensive repertoire of well-trained staff and employees.
Patient portals allow the patient to access their medical health records and interact with the healthcare professional. These portals improve diseases awareness and prevention through consistent patient engagement, which increases self-management. One of the risks is patient privacy and data breaches if not well secured (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). Some of the critical technologies that I have also noted in my practice area include smart pumps, automated medication dispensing technology, bar code medication administration, and electronic sign-out and hand-off tools. The main benefits of these technologies are that they reduce medical errors, improve care efficiency and patient safety. The primary risk relates to the failure of breakdown in them can lead to fatal medical errors. Therefore, these technological trends aim at improving care efficiency and effectiveness. However, the main aim should be on mitigating their risks to reduce the negative impact.
The most promising technologies are AI., telehealth, and the internet of things. These technologies aids in disease management and prevention. For example, AI allows for the accurate early diagnosis of diseases. Moreover. AI is vital in machine learning and radiology as it helps in the accurate diagnosis of neurological diseases such as epilepsy. AI also eases administrative tasks and operational costs. Internet of things allows healthcare providers to track, monitor different chronic diseases while telehealth improves care delivery and accessibility in remote areas. The internet of thins allows the care provider to collect and analyze essential data to help in decision making. Importantly, these technologies help in assessing public health and implementing public health strategies. These technologies will improve how organizations provide care, how patients receive the care, and the overall outcomes.
The trends in healthcare technology impact different aspects of patient care. The notable trends include AI, patient portals, and telehealth. Their benefits are related to improving patient care and efficiency. However, technological failures can have a severe impact on care delivery and patient safety. Therefore, the trends in technology are essential in healthcare as this allows one to monitor and assess their impact on patient care. Healthcare Information Technology Trends Essay Examples
References
Alotaibi, Y. K., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health information technology on patient safety. Saudi Medical Journal, 38(12), 1173–1180. https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2017.12.20631
Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (2020, June 10). Using telehealth to expand access to essential health services during the covid-19 pandemic. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/telehealth.html
Nelson R. (2017). Telemedicine and telehealth: The potential to improve rural access to care. The American Journal of Nursing, 117(6), 17–18. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000520244.60138.1c
Yu, K. H., Beam, A. L., & Kohane, I. S. (2018). Artificial intelligence in healthcare. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2(10), 719–731. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-018-0305-z
Yuehong, Y. I. N., Zeng, Y., Chen, X., & Fan, Y. (2016). The internet of things in healthcare: An overview. Journal of Industrial Information Integration, 1, 3-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jii.2016.03.004

Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, offering additional/alternative ideas regarding opportunities and risks related to the observations shared.