Technological advancements and development have brought a total revolution how people work and relate in the global level. Modern technologies have instead created a conducive environment, which allows people from different spheres of life to collaborate in a more effective and efficient. In turn, the quality of work has improved as more and more people are linked to the technological platforms. Teams are formed, facilitated, and brought together from across different organizations, departments, and professions in the existing digital platforms. A particular interest can be placed on the medical professionals who have in the recent past invested in a variety of technology to improve patient quality and safety outcomes. An analysis into this proposition reveals how nurses being aware of the benefits offered by modern technologies have collaborated to offer efficient healthcare service.
The Role of Telemedicine, Electronic ICU, and Other Virtual Modalities in Promoting Interprofessional Collaboration and Improved Patient Safety
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The medical professionals are keen on promoting patient safety and health outcomes in best ways possible. In achieving this, they make use of varied technological options, which they do, in a collaborative effort. Professionals from different departments from within the medical professionals come together in an effort to understand how together they can adapt the available technologies to help patients. Some of the technologies at the center of such interprofessional collaboration include telemedicine, electronic ICU and other virtual modalities used in identifying, diagnosing, and treating patients. According to Bavnani, Narula, and Sengupta(2016), these technologies are new in the market and as such not all the medical professionals are aware of their intricacies. As such, team leaders have the responsibility of making sure that members of their respective units and departments become aware of the working of these technologies. Interprofessional collaboration is essential especially when dealing with patients who are not in the health facilities physically. In this case, the home nurse can communicate with a physician to get prescriptions and diagnosis.
Modern technological advancements have changed how patients records are handled. Medical professionals no longer have to rely on traditional files to understand a patient’s medical history. Health records are captured, stored and retrieved electronically thus easing the process of handling patients (Bavnani, Narula and Sengupta,2016). In this way, various health professionals can access a patient’s information at the click of a button. In this way, there is a collaboration between medical units and facilities, which goes a long way in enhancing interprofessional teamwork. In essence, a patient takes less time from the period he or she seeks medical services to the time he or she leaves a health facility. Consequently, the health professionals handling such a patient spend less time as all the information they need is pooled into one digital platform.
How Nurses Can Use Current and Emerging Technologies as Part of an Overall Strategy to Build Teamwork and Collaboration and Improve Patient Safety
Nurses play a major role when it comes to handling the health and the safety of their patients from the time they initiate treatment to follow up services. As such, they should be on the frontline when it comes to using the current and emerging technologies. The nurses should collaborate with the other members of the medical professionals ranging from physicians, data entry clerks, and others to ensure that the patients under their care receive high-end services. The patients can benefit immensely from nursing care, which integrates current technologies in its processes. From booking, diagnosis, treatment, prescription and palliative care, the nurses’ work will be more efficient. By adapting technologies in these healthcare processes, the nurses in collaboration with other professionals will be able to track their patients in a more comprehensive manner (Rolls, Hansen, Jackson and Elliot 2016). The use of current technological approaches by the nursing professionals will ensure that the safety, confidentiality, and health of the patients are guaranteed at all treatment levels.
Benefits and Limitations of Virtual Modalities in Supporting Interprofessional Collaboration and Improving Patient Safety
The healthcare professionals have continually made use of technological advancements in attending to the healthcare needs of their patients. The use of virtual modalities such as telehealth, social media platforms, and telemedicine has its limitations and benefits. According to McGrail, Ahuja, and Leaver (2017), the use of virtual modalities has helped ease the process of accessing healthcare services for patients who are remotely placed. Such patients can access medical services online which a step in the right direction. More so, the use of virtual modalities helps patients to transmit their medical records from one medical provider to another more accurately and securely. In complex healthcare institutions, patients can get online appointments with medical providers, especially for minor illnesses. Nonetheless, virtual modalities have their limitations as not all illnesses can be diagnosed across the modalities. Patients with chronic illnesses must make actual visits to the healthcare practitioners. More so, there is a great likelihood of getting duped by fake practitioners who are not interested in the well-being of the patients.
Legal and Ethical Implications of Using Social Media in Interprofessional Collaborative Efforts
The use of social media platforms in healthcare has brought a revolution on how patient medical health information is gathered and disseminated in the healthcare processes. Healthcare professionals have in turn turned into this tool in enhancing interprofessional collaboration in enhancing delivery of quality services. However, in as much as social media is a powerful and efficient tool, care must be taken on how information is handled to ensure confidentiality of patient health information to avoid lawsuits. According to Denecke et al. (2015), increased traffic in such collaborative teams may put such information in jeopardy, as not every person will be careful with the information. In essence, outsiders may become privy to such information if the professionals are not careful with their social media pages and accounts. As such it is important for the professionals to practice due diligence to reduce the chances of patient information from falling into the wrong hands.
References
Bavnani, S. P., Narula, J. & Sengupta, P. P. (2016). Mobile technology and the digitization of healthcare. European Heart Journal, 37(18), 1428–1438.
Denecke, K. et al. (2015). Ethical Issues of social media usage in healthcare. Yearbook of Medical Informatics , 10(1), 137–147.
McGrail, K.M., Ahuja, M.A. &Leaver, C.A. (2017). Virtual visits and patient-centered care: results of a patient survey and observational study. Journal of Medical Internet Research , 19(5), 177.
Rolls, K., Hansen, M., Jackson, D. & Elliott, D. (2016). How health care professionals use social media to create virtual communities: an integrative review. Journal of Medical Internet Research , 18(6), 166.
