One healthcare technology trend I have noticed recently, and thoroughly liked as a patient, is patient portal access from hospitals and doctors’ offices. Patients’ ability to view their medical records in real time when labs are updated, chart notes are available, and other aspects of their care are viewable allows them to be more proactive and participate in their care and overall health. Dykes et al (2017) discusses the use of patient portals in the ICU as a way to engage patients and patient proxies, or healthcare partners that are responsible for making a patient’s healthcare decisions, in their care. Having easy access to records also allows patients to formulate questions based off of lab values and notes which enhances communication abilities with their providers.
Some challenges discussed by Lyles et al (2020) is the ability of certain patient populations to access and understand digital data, the feeling that in person communication is deteriorating, and the potential to overwhelm patients with information that they do not understand. Another challenge that is present with any information available through internet access is the potential for data breaches and private health information to be stolen. Legislation requires providers to protect their patients’ health information from being used inappropriately or stolen underneath the Security Rule (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). The security rule benefits patients because they know providers are required to protect their information but a risk is hackers continuing to attempt to breach secure information to steal things such as social security number and other important information tied to healthcare data.
One aspect of healthcare technology that I believe will affect nursing practice is the ability of patients to read notes written by physicians and nurses while hospitalized. I think this technology being available will encourage nurses to address the individuals needs of patients based off of their cultural, spiritual, etc. needs and reflect that in their charting. By making nurses more conscious to treating the individual based of the patients’ values rather than their own it can foster a more patient centered care model and promote positive outcomes.
Dykes, P. C., Rozenblum, R., Dalal, A., Massaro, A., Chang, F., Clements, M., Collins, S., Donze, J., Fagan, M., Gazarian, P., Hanna, J., Lehmann, L., Leone, K., Lipsitz, S., McNally, K., Morrison, C., Samal, L., Mlaver, E., Schnock, K., … Bates, D. W. (2017). Prospective Evaluation of a Multifaceted Intervention to Improve Outcomes in Intensive Care. Critical Care Medicine, 45(8). https://doi.org/10.1097/ccm.0000000000002449
Lyles, C. R., Nelson, E. C., Frampton, S., Dykes, P. C., Cemballi, A. G., & Sarkar, U. (2020). Using Electronic Health Record Portals to Improve Patient Engagement: Research Priorities and Best Practices. Annals of Internal Medicine, 172(11_Supplement). https://doi.org/10.7326/m19-0876
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