Many health conditions deteriorated because they are detected late. Research has indicated that early detection of healthcare conditions and early diagnosis of diseases play a critical role in proper treatment and management of diverse conditions. Medical errors, often associated with misdiagnosis and lack of patient monitoring, have largely compromised the care given to patients. The large population of patients that healthcare workers attend to makes it humanly impossible for them to keenly monitor the conditions of each patient at any given time (Mok, Wang & Liaw, 2015). Therefore, the patient-centered problem chosen for this study is the lack of real-time reporting and monitoring of patient conditions in a way that enhances early detection complications.
Proposal to Address Lack of Real-Time Reporting
Several vital signs indicate the state of health of any given patients. These include body temperature, rate of heartbeat, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and SpO 2 (Mok, Wang & Liaw, 2015). Observing such vital signs is a fundamental function of nursing. These signs give clear information about the status of a patient and hence facilitate decision making in the diagnosis and treatment process. Placing more focus on continuous monitoring of these vital signs can significantly help in identifying changes as well as irregularities that could potentially be missed during the regular nursing checks. Moreover, continuous monitoring of vital signs such as respiratory rate and heart rate can help healthcare workers in the prediction of health complications like respiratory failure and cardiac arrest hours before they occur (Mok, Wang & Liaw, 2015). This can enable physicians to adopt some interventions for such conditions.
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Critical changes are often reported to occur in the vital signs of patients in unexpected wait times. Clinical teams can unintentionally fail to capture such changes due to the huge work overload they face daily. Therefore, the challenge that most healthcare works face is in continuous monitoring of each patient. Since the number of patients is often high, continuously monitoring the vital signs of each patient is often a challenge in the healthcare system.
In solving the problem, this proposal suggests the use of technology that not only monitors the vital signs of patients but also provides real-time reporting on deviations from the accepted ranges to responsible healthcare workers. Several devices have been developed to monitor such vital signs. Some of these devices are simple wearable devices. However, little has been done to integrate such devices into information technology systems that collect such data and transmits real-time signals to healthcare workers (Greenes, 2014). Hence, this proposal suggests this integration in a way that will enable healthcare workers to get real-time reports about the vital signs of patients and hence facilitate continuous monitoring of patients.
The resources required in the development of this solution will include monitoring devices, IT human resources, and computers. IT human resources will build the necessary infrastructure to support this solution. Moreover, computers will be critical in the development of the required applications and the interlinking of hardware and software in this system (Greenes, 2014). In addition, financial resources will equally be required in procuring the required material and in hiring people with relevant skills.
Ethical and Legal Considerations
Several ethical factors will guide the implementation of this proposed solution. First, there is a need to ensure that the right of a patient to choose is respected; patients who do not wish to utilize this technology should not be forced to use it. Like in all other healthcare delivery services, this service out to be voluntary. In facilitating the patient to make informed decisions, it is important to explain to the patient the importance of the system and hence, allow them to make informed decisions. Secondly, healthcare workers have an ethical duty to act in the best interest of their patients (Mtenzi, 2016). In this regard, the healthcare worker ought to stop the use of this system if they have reason to believe that the system could harm the patient. These, among other ethical issues, must be considered when implementing this proposal.
Besides the identified ethical considerations, several legal aspects should govern the implementation of this proposed solution. For instance, the threat of unauthorized access to personal health information that is protected is of concern in this project. The Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996 requires healthcare organizations as well as insurers to protect personally identifiable information from theft and unauthorized access (Mtenzi, 2016). Just like other electronic systems in healthcare, this system is equally prone to hacking and exposure to unauthorized parties. Therefore, measures to safeguard patient information collected through this system must be instituted to ensure that it aligns with the applicable law.
Why the Problem was Chosen
The major reason why this problem was chosen was to deal with the increasing cases of fatality that could be prevented through continuous monitoring of patient conditions. For instance, a substantial percentage of death cases arising from cardiac arrest can be prevented if their vital signs are monitored continuously. Secondly, the human limitation of healthcare workers in continuously monitoring patients was another reason why this problem was chosen. As pointed out, the high number of patients in healthcare facilities makes it impossible for nurses to monitor each patient regularly; it necessitates an automated system to assist with the monitoring.
References
Greenes, R. A. (2014). Features of Computer-Based Clinical Decision Support. Clinical Decision Support , 111–144.
Mok, W. Q., Wang, W., & Liaw, S. Y. (2015). Vital signs monitoring to detect patient deterioration: An integrative literature review. International Journal of Nursing Practice , 21 , 91–98.
Mtenzi, F. J. (2016). Privacy protection of electronic healthcare records in e-healthcare systems. Wireless Computing in Medicine , 541–566.
