Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

Introduction to the Healthcare Technology

The selected healthcare technology is telehealth or telemedicine. Accordingly, telehealth uses electronic information and telecommunication technologies to support clinical health care and patient care across long distances. The technology involves delivering medical and educational services through digitalized communication tools, allowing patients and health providers to interact without being physically present within the exact location. Telehealth helps provide a wide range of services ranging from consultations, diagnosis, treatment plans, and education, to mention a few. Technology has become popular due to technological advancement and the need for accessible and convenient health services. Therefore, this study focuses on telehealth as an informatics competence for nurses and nurse educators. Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

How Telehealth Enhances Patient Care

Accordingly, the study by Haleem et al. (2021) argued that telemedicine and telehealth monitoring methods and systems could play an integral role in enhancing patient care and enabling effective management of severe health issues. Through telehealth, health professionals can track patients at home after discharge from the hospital. The technology allows physicians to exchange details of the patients with other health professionals, enhancing collaborative practices that subsequently improve healthcare. Asides from that, telehealth devices can transmit information about a patient’s vital signs and other critical data to a physician, thus allowing them to make necessary changes in the treatment. Patients can send biometric data to clinicians through wearables and remote monitoring devices through the technologies. Through access to critical patient information, clinical decisions can be made with ease.

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With remote monitoring practices and technologies, there is improved access to healthcare. As Gogia (2020) stipulated, telehealth effectively eliminates any geographical hindrances affecting overall access to healthcare. In this regard, patients can access health services regardless of location. Access to healthcare often benefits patients residing in underserved and rural regions. In addition to that, telehealth technologies allow for timely interventions. Patients can receive prompt medical care and interventions that could allow for early diagnosis of illnesses and thus improved patient outcomes. Other benefits of telehealth are effective management of chronic diseases. The technologies help health providers provide early interventions for chronic conditions, thus allowing for personalized care plans.  These benefits of telehealth are essential in improving patient care and show the benefit of these technologies in the healthcare system.    Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

Background of Telehealth

Telemedicine started as a technology and strategy for providing medical support when face-to-face interaction between providers and patients was a challenge due to distance, cost, or lack of unavailability in the 1960s and 1970s (Gogia, 2020). At the time, video conferences and remote communication technologies offered health services. Researchers and medical personnel started exploring the ideology of using the technologies to deliver health services in rural and underserved regions such as remote islands, space travels, and mountain peaks, to mention a few. The term telemedicine was introduced in the 1970s, and the health services offered through these technologies expanded. With continued digitalization, technologies were introduced to allow for high-quality video conferencing. Internet connectivity further contributed to the widespread of these technologies, and remote patient monitoring started becoming popular in the 2000s. Health providers could effectively track the patient’s vital signs and monitor chronic ailments from a distance.

Telehealth further developed with the continued advancement of mobile technology. The widespread use of smartphones led to telemedicine applications and platforms. The platforms allowed patients to communicate with health personnel through video calls. The technologies started integrating into healthcare practices, especially for follow-up visits and minor health problems. Telehealth incorporates different aspects of telemedicine and beyond currently. It provides additional health benefits to the public, including public awareness. Other added terms to telehealth include eHealth, which means giving health through electronic means and mHealth, which involves using mobiles and smart tabs for health support and delivery. The lowering rate of physical physician visits for chronic diseases and increased home-based monitoring are some of the additional benefits of telehealth.  Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

Quality and Safety

Telehealth provides high-quality and safe care for patients. Through these technologies, health professionals can deliver health services as needed to patients, which is necessary to maintain quality. Providers should possess the skills to communicate effectively, make the most suitable diagnosis, and provide amicable treatment to patients. At the same time, for telehealth to operate effectively, health professionals rely on visuals and audio cues that are limited when compared to in-person evaluations. In this regard, there could be a risk of diagnostic inaccuracies. For quality purposes, there is a need to observe specific protocols for evaluating and diagnosing conditions. Aside from that, the technologies should be reliable for adequate and accurate diagnostics and health assessments. The quality of telehealth depends on the technology’s reliability, and any technical issues could cause quality and safety concerns.

The safety aspects of telehealth technologies are linked to elements of data security. Protection of patient health information is needed during remote consultations. Health providers should use secure platforms that prevent unauthorized access. At the same time, the patient’s privacy can easily be compromised. Telehealth devices can easily be hacked, and data may be accessed, and there is a need for additional measures to protect patient health information. During telehealth sessions, a patient’s privacy should be respected. Health personnel should ensure that they conduct consultations privately and that the patient knows how the data provided will be used and stored. Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

Ethics and Cost Considerations

Telehealth technologies could have some ethical considerations and concerns. Some of these ethical concerns are maintaining patient privacy. One of the recommendations when providing healthcare services is to maintain a patient’s confidentiality, which is one of the Health and Insurance Accountability and Portability Act (HIPAA) requirements. The patient’s right to privacy should always be maintained and protected when providing telehealth services. Aside from that, patients must have signed an informed consent for telehealth services. There is a need to understand the limitations, benefits, and risks associated with remote care. With this knowledge, patients can decide whether to continue with the telehealth services or opt-out and select in-patient care.

Regarding access to telehealth services, specific ethical issues of access to healthcare could arise. Ethics in healthcare mandate that everyone has equitable access to healthcare services. There is a risk of inequitable access among patients with limited technological literacy. Thus, there is a need to ensure that all patients can access telehealth services and benefit from telehealth technologies at all times. On matters concerning cost, telehealth can lead to cost savings on the one hand and could be costly on the other hand. Cost savings can be achieved by reducing the need to use physical infrastructure like transport and fuel to go to a health facility physically. However, telehealth devices such as wearables could be costly and unaffordable for certain patients, especially those from low-income families.   Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

Legislative and Public Policy Implications

One of the legislative concerns of telehealth services is multistate licenses. According to Gajarawala and Pelkowski (2021), telehealth could provide medical services across borders. This includes sharing clinical expertise with patients and different health providers. However, the issue of the lack of multistate licensure presents a barrier is a barrier to the effective delivery of telehealth services. Providers opt to obtain and uphold licensure in multiple states. The multistate licensure was created to ease the portability of licensure and practice of telemedicine from one state to another for physicians and physician assistants. Under the compact, the state medical boards would maintain licensure. However, they would share information and processes needed for the licensure and regulations. The deal does not apply to nurse practitioners since they are licensure under the state boards of nursing. Since state regulation and practice authority varies from state to state, nurse practitioners are likely to face more barriers than physicians or physician assistants in telehealth technologies. Accordingly, nurse practitioners should check with the state board of nursing for the most accurate and updated regulations on telehealth practice.

Interoperability is another policy implication of telehealth technologies. According to Kruse et al. (2021), interoperability issues are a facilitator and a barrier to telehealth. Notably, interoperability is critical in enabling health professionals to communicate within their community and share medical information with peers in different organizations. There is a need to establish policy early within a developing nation to set interoperability standards of telehealth. The interoperability barrier is a concern as telehealth involves different technology platforms such as electronic health records, remote monitoring devices, and patient portals. When these platforms are designed to communicate with each other, health providers are likely to struggle to get hold of accurate and complete information about a patient during consultations leading to potential errors and inaccuracies in the assessment.     Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

Implementation of Telehealth Technology as a Nurse Educator or Nurse Leader

A nurse leader can facilitate the implementation of telehealth through different activities. First, one could guide the implementation of telehealth technology by collaborating with IT teams, training the staff members, addressing legal and regulation requirements, and establishing clear telehealth and data protection policies. One can opt to work closely with IT departments to ensure that the telehealth about to be implemented aligns with an organisation’s goals and infrastructure (Rutledge & Gustin, 2021). At the same time, there is a need to organize comprehensive training sessions to ensure that staff members understand the use and functionality of the chosen telehealth platforms. Asides from that, nurse leaders provide there is compliance with existing regulations during the implementation of telehealth. Some rules to focus on are HIPAA and patient data protection laws.

Further, nurse educators could educate the staff on the benefits of telehealth, their use, and patient communication. Evaluating the effectiveness of telehealth would require assessing staff competency through simulated telehealth sessions and evaluating staff members’ satisfaction while gathering feedback for continued improvement (Casillas et al., 2022). The role of nurse educators in telehealth is to prepare health personnel to use the technology and practices effectively. They play a critical role in ensuring that nurses and other healthcare staff remain prepared to provide high-quality care through divergent remote platforms. Nurse educators partner with different institutions to integrate telehealth into the nursing curriculum. At the same time, they facilitate the development of skills among nurses to ensure that telehealth platforms can be used to provide the best quality care to patients.    Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

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References

Casillas, A., Valdovinos, C., Wang, E., Abhat, A., Mendez, C., Gutierrez, G., Portz, J., Brown, A., & Lyles, C. R. (2022). Perspectives from leadership and frontline staff on telehealth transitions in the Los Angeles safety net during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Frontiers in Digital Health, 4, 944860. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2022.944860

Gajarawala, S. N., & Pelkowski, J. N. (2021). Telehealth benefits and barriers. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 17(2), 218-221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2020.09.013

Gogia, S. (2020). Rationale, history, and basics of Telehealth. Fundamentals of Telemedicine and Telehealth, 11-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-814309-4.00002-1

Haleem, A., Javaid, M., Singh, R. P., & Suman, R. (2021). Telemedicine for healthcare: Capabilities, features, barriers, and applications. Sensors International, 2, 100117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sintl.2021.100117

Kruse, C. S., Williams, K., Bohls, J., & Shamsi, W. (2021). Telemedicine and health policy: A systematic review. Health Policy and Technology, 10(1), 209-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2020.10.006

Rutledge, C., & Gustin, T. (2021). Preparing Nurses for Roles in Telehealth: Now is the Time! OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.3912/ojin.vol26no01man03

This assignment will address informatics competences for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders.

2. Identify a healthcare technology innovation and use current literature to explain how this technology enhances patient outcomes.

3. Discuss the background of the technology, its impact on quality and safety, and identify ethical and cost considerations related to the use of this technology.

4. Include any legislative or public policy implications related to the use of this information technology in healthcare.

5. Analyze how you will use this technology as a graduate level nurse (either Nurse Educator or Nurse Leader, based on your track).

a. As a Nurse Leader, you may be implementing this technology or writing policy that governs the use of this technology. How will you approach the implementation of this technology or development of policy?

b. As a Nurse Educator you may be guiding implementation of this technology in preparing staff for the technology. How will you teach staff members about this technology or how will you evaluate the effectiveness of use of the technology by the staff members based on the education received? Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay

6. Use APA 7th edition format for the assignment. It is okay to use first person in this since you are being asked for your thoughts and opinion.

a. Include title page and reference page.

b. Paper length should be 6-7 pages without the title and reference page.

c. No abstract is required for the paper.

7. Include at least six references which may be peer-reviewed articles, a respected organizational website or your textbook. Informatics Competencies for Nurse Educators and Nurse Leaders Essay