There is continuous and rapid technological advancement across the medical field. Despite this innovation and growth of technology being valuable, it results in several implications in the process. For instance, for healthcare facilities, there has been tremendous technological adoption in the past years. The shift from paper records to electronic health records systems for instance, not only costed the administration resources in acquiring the software but also in training their staff subsequently. Innovations in the technological field will continuously create enormous implications in resources and personnel within the healthcare facility.
Medicinal and technological innovation has been a plus for the healthcare sector, but this has always come with a cost. These advancements mean more investments in the training of staff and equipping them with the needed skills to manage and run their tasks using the available technology (Qureshi & Syred, 2014). The healthcare administration should be prepared to assess the magnitude of the problems likely to be experienced as a result of innovations in the technological field.
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Stakeholders Affected
The hospital’s management is the first entity to be affected by this issue. The acquisition and training of staff needs resources. The facility’s administration has to deliberate on how to create budgets for these innovations. Budgeting will be an uphill task considering there are other issues like staff shortages due to the aging workforce and the need to hire more. Management will be forced to establish a balance between hiring new staff and the acquisition of the latest technological systems to enable smooth running within the facility. Staff is also heavily affected, systems involved with finance are likely to render most of the employees jobless and this has been the case for the past decade (Luxton, 2014). The staff ought to learn and gain insights on how to use the acquired technology in their daily tasks. However, the challenge is technology keeps on advancing and this means they should always stay abreast of the changes to enhance quality care and their job security. The continuous change in technology also means consistent budgeting for such upgrades.
This topic proposal is highly relevant in any hospital setting today. Health care and social care research are aimed towards establishing new knowledge, which will inspire policy-change. The study and further research on the magnitude of implications faced due to technological growth are essential in influencing technological policy in any facility (Gellert et al., 2015). Therefore, this proposal is likely to utilize on-going studies in this subject and elevate it further to establish a proper response to the changes in technology. Further healthcare research on this issue will unearth the following; establish the best approaches to budgeting for technology upgrades, continuous training of staff, both existing and onboarding, and the number of staff needed as a result of technology acquisition (Gellert et al., 2015). Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and analytics, for instance, are likely to render so many staff jobless should the facility adopt them. Therefore, research is necessary to identify the best approach and the most affordable one for the hospitals.
Literature Review
The Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health Act (HITECH), provided incentives to most facilities keen on adopting technology in their operations. The incentives were specifically to encourage the shift to electronic health records management (Milstein et al., 2017). According to Milstein, (2017) as of 2014 80.5% of all hospitals across the United States adopted basic electronic health records systems. “Only 37.5% of hospitals adopted at least 8 (of 10) EHR data for performance measurement functions, and 41.7% of hospitals adopted at least 8 (of 10) patient engagement functions” (Milstein et al., 2017, 1146). The results established from this study indicated that rural, small, and safety-net facilities had failed to acquire advanced electronic health records systems (Milstein et al., 2017). Despite electronic health records systems being necessary for improving efficiency and patient care, most facilities found it costly to keep up with such advancements. This research study is an indication of how costly technological advancement can be in the medical field. The shortcomings of any acquisition or upgrade are that it does not stop there but it means being constantly on the lookout for any new updates.
Digital health technology is an unavoidable wave, healthcare administrators must establish a digital strategy to guide them through the process of technology acquisition, use, and management. Research done recently, aimed at establishing the state of nursing as artificial intelligence aggressively gain ground in the nursing field (Buchanan et al., 2020). The study determined that there is a likelihood of improved patient care but the training of nurses to run and manage such technologies was found to be a demanding task. According to Buchanan, (2020) artificial intelligence in nursing homes will adversely affect nurse-patient relationships due to alienation created from such technologies (Buchanan et al., 2020). The loss of human touch as digital health technologies takes over most of the nursing functions, cannot be overlooked.
Based on the findings of the two articles evaluated above, it is evident that digital health technologies come with enormous implications. Healthcare administrators should be cognizant of such issues, to prepare an appropriate countermove. There is a need to advance research on this issue further to establish appropriate approaches to digital shift. The shift should consider the challenges of resources present across hospitals, the number, and impacts on the available staff, and the expected results. This study should also determine whether to adopt an all-digital strategy in some areas or implement a hybrid system. The cost of acquisition of digital technologies is enormous, healthcare managers should ensure that such a decision is a strategic one and helps the facilities be more profitable while providing quality care.
References
Buchanan, C., Howitt, M. L., Wilson, R., Booth, R. G., Risling, T., & Bamford, M. (2020). Nursing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Protocol for a Scoping Review. JMIR Research Protocols , 9 (4). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2196/17490
Gellert, G. A., Ramirez, R., & Webster, L. (2015). The Rise of the Medical Scribe Industry Implications for the Advancement of Electronic Health Records. JAMA , 313 (13), 1315–1316. https://doi.org/doi:10.1001/jama.2014.17128
Luxton, D. D. (2014). Artificial intelligence in psychological practice: Current and future applications and implications. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice , 45 (5), 332–339.
Milstein, J. A., Holmgren, A. J., Kralovec, P., Worzala, C., Searcy, T., & Patel, V. (2017). Electronic health record adoption in US hospitals: the emergence of a digital “advanced use” divide. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association , 24 (6), 1142–1148. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocx080
Qureshi, M., & Syred, R. S. (2014). The Impact of Robotics on Employment and Motivation of Employees in the Service Sector, with Special Reference to Health Care. Safety and Health at Work , 5 (4), 198–202. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2014.07.003
