With the changing market demand, the severity of diseases, aging population, environmental concerns, and technological innovations, are all constantly shaping the medical practices in the United States. Technology is believed by the general public to hold much promise for an improved health care system and specifically in critical care practices. In the past, nurses depended on their senses to monitor patient health status and to identify changes. Thankfully, this has been replaced by technology which has bettered the patient’s critical attention and also eased the hard work experienced by nurses. However, with technological advancements, the health delivery is at times complicated and confusing hence medical errors. This paper discusses the implications of technology design in hospitals.
Some tech-designs in health organizations enhance ethical environments whereby, the healthcare outcome and patient satisfaction is greatly upheld. EGlass as an asset improves the patient experience by controlling visibility and development in infection control. Unlike other solutions for privacy such as curtains, the glass is able to eliminate germs, prevent cross-contamination and has no cleaning nor maintenance issue. It is composed of a laminated glass that has an inbuilt electrified film which shifts from frosted white to clear or vice-versa with a mere touch of a button. This is able to provide immediate privacy demand. In the unpowered state, the privacy glass is completely opaque from both sides (Anderson, 2016).
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The reason I feel attracted to this technology enhances the environment inside the ICU to a more conducive and productive experience both to the patient and the nurse. Disturbing noise from the external environment is filtered to give a nurse a proper concentration towards a patient, on the other hand, there is limited patient anxiety. It has been confirmed by the intelligent hospitals that patients are more satisfied in emotionally charged environments or rather in a patient-centric design. Apart from the privacy offered by the Eglass technology, it also offers light and heat control solutions. A perfectly balanced daylight-filled setting is maintained and optimum temperatures maintained to provide and promote healing for the patient, and a comfortable environment for patients and the nurses.
Pneumatic Tube Systems (PTS) have been in existence for many years whereby they provide an efficient and cost-effective solution to the transportation of substances in hospitals. Over time, the system has been innovated into an integrated pneumatic tube system solution, its key being optimization of distribution processes in hospitals. In standard operations, the carriers that include heparin blood, blood cell suspension, plasma blood, units of blood and other laboratory materials are transported at 30km/h through the tube network. Surprisingly, the system looks a lot like the complex activities in the brain. It is composed of the transponder technology for tracking and tracing, graphics monitor for displaying information when the panel is on use, software functions and lastly access lock for authorization purposes (Hoganson, 2014).
I fully support this technology as it reduces possible hospital confusion and so a smooth experience of hospital procedures. Consequently, the technology is beneficial not only for the smooth hospital processes but also to the direct individuals involved in medical practices. Patients do not have to necessarily walk to blood collection rooms as the system provides a one-stop service where it connects various departments. Nurses are also relieved from some of the operational tasks that could have been done manually and also pottering activities and hence the prime focus on patient care. Pneumatic tube system also improves the reputation of a hospital by the safe handling of contaminated samples and specimens, therefore, preventing the possibility of virus and bacteria spread. Together with patient-centered management and effective treatment, pneumatic tube system can guarantee quality patient experience.
Infusion pump platform is a technical automated program that minimizes errors and prevents potential harm to patients. The platform is equipped with a Guardrails Safety Software for the detection of medication errors at the crucial point of drug infusion to the patient. However, when programming the system, a wrong keystroke input can result in potentially catastrophic result. In addition, research has shown that confusion between concentration and dosing units when using the system can lead to overdoses. Nurses have crucial roles in validating the information of interest to the pump from the physician if it is indeed correct (Skledar et al., 2013).
Due to the usage of medical databases and software for dose-error reduction, the platform provides the necessary information and decision making support for the nurse. With the information provided by the system, the nurse continues with the infusion, this itself is enough for me to support the technology. The software manipulates the entered patient’s identity information together with designated medication and prompts advisories pertaining to the drug and alerts regarding the match of parameters and profile limits. The alerts can either be hard or soft depending on the error detected. In many cases, nurses bypass the soft errors due to library medication parameters may be inappropriately customized for their respective patient population.
Not only have Technological developments enhanced the quality of life but also has made a significant impact on practices of healthcare specialists and the general medical processes. Technologies may have negative implications, for instance, infusion pumps that are driven by computer software may at times have errors, but with time the system can be modified to fix bugs to change it into a better and dependable new version. In the future, the standard for technology developments needs to be improved in the aim of upholding optimal safety and other desirable measures of medical performance.
References
Anderson D., Halpern N. (2016). Critical care design of tomorrow: how technology fits in. SALUS Healthy Planet. Healthy People.
Hoganson, K. M. (2014). U.S. Patent Application No. 13/938,904 .
Skledar, S. J., Niccolai, C. S., Schilling, D., Costello, S., Mininni, N., Ervin, K., & Urban, A. (2013). Quality-improvement analytics for intravenous infusion pumps. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy , 70 (8), 680-686.
