Telenursing…The Future is Now Analysis
PURPOSE The purpose of this assignment is to explore the specialty of telenursing as one example of the use of technology in various practice settings. Advantages and disadvantages for the patient and legal and ethical principles for the nurse of this technology will be explored. SCENARIO The following scenario serves as the basis for your paper: Manuel, one of your colleagues, is considering leaving his medical-surgical position where both of you have worked for the past 12 years. In fact, he has an interview in two weeks for a Telenurse Specialist position at a nurse-owned home health agency. This agency monitors the elderly and those with chronic illnesses to keep them from being readmitted to the hospital. Manuel is doing some research on his own and knows that the hours sound great and the pay is comparable. One advantage is that he can work from home (telecommute) most of the time and only interface with the agency for required meetings. Manuel knows you are enrolled in this course. You have discussed various concepts that you noted in your Syllabus including technology, privacy, confidentiality, interoperability, legal and ethical issues, and patients’ access to the World Wide Web, just to name a few. Manuel has shared that he does not know much about telehealth and the role of nursing in this “new” technology. He has asked you to educate him on the advantages and disadvantages to patients of telenursing. Frankly, he does not understand what he might be doing on a day-to-day basis. One concern is the technology that may be involved. Manuel has indicated that he realizes the final decision about a career move will be his choice, but he is seeking your knowledge based on concepts presented in this course. He wants to be knowledgeable about the role of the professional nurse in this practice setting prior to his interview. You tell Manuel that you will need to do some research and that you will get back to him about your conclusion and recommendation. You have heard of telenursing and how it can prevent patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and CHF (congestive heart failure) from being readmitted to the hospital, but you recognize that you will need to do much more investigation. DIRECTIONS 1. You are to research (find evidence), compose, and type a scholarly paper based on the scenario described above. Reflect on what you have learned in this class to date about technology, privacy rights, ethical issues, interoperability, patient satisfaction, consumer education, and other topics. Your text by Hebda (2013, Chapter 25) discusses telehealth in detail. However, your focus should be on the professional nurse’s role in telehealth, such as telenursing. Therefore, do not limit your review of the literature to your text. Nurses in various specialties need to know about the advantages and disadvantages of telenursing as it applies to their patients. For example, when you discharge a patient from an acute care setting, will a telenursing service assist that individual with staying out of the hospital? You may need to apply critical thinking skills to development of your paper. 2. Use Microsoft Word and APA formatting to develop your paper. Consult the Publication manual of the APA, 6th edition if you have questions, for example, margin size, font type and size (point), use of third person, and so forth. Take advantage of the writing service, Smarthinking, which is accessed by clicking on the link called the Tutor Source, found under the Course Home tab. Also, review and use the various documents in Doc Sharing related to APA. 3. The length of the paper should be 4–5 pages, excluding the title page and the reference page. Limit your references to key sources.
Telehealth
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Introduction
One of the aspects in the history of mankind that has revolutionized everything in its path much like the wheel invention is technology. Much of what was the norm in the 50s has since changed with direct influence from technology. Over the years as new technological advancements are made, operation change along with them and the level of efficiency improves immensely. One of the areas that changes at an ever constant rate is health care and all the support operations associated. Due to the integration of technology with medicine, there are constant changes that impact the way health care delivered to the patient. Within this vast realm of medicine and health sciences, is the nursing docket. This is an area that has seen quite a significant shift of operation and practices from the 50s to date. Specifically, technology has revolutionized the levels of communication between the nurses and their patients. With the development of telecommunication platforms, there has been a significant development in the area of Telehealth practices.
Medical practitioners are no longer restricted by spatial differences. It is possible for a surgeon to be performing surgical procedures to a patient in India from the comfort of his home California. This is made possible through the telecommunication platforms and networks that now exist between different facilities across the globe. In the same case, it is possible for a nurse to take care of their patients from the comfort of their homes and deliver exemplary quality care. This is a clear indication of the level of diversification that gripped the nursing practices, increasing its scope, standards and the breadth.
Advantages of Telenursing
There are quite a number of advantages of Telenursing and are not limited to the following, with close reference to the rate change in the nursing, medicine and health care field:
Enhances patients participation and satisfaction
Improve in health access, and outcomes
Providing care remotely
Rapid Response time
Reduced costs
Reduced patient visit to the hospital and stay
Sharing data among the professionals and the patient
The ability of transcending health care globally
Disadvantages of Telenursing
There are some cons associated with the development and implementation of Telenursing, as follows;
If the equipment malfunction, it could cost the patient their life
It can have a dehumanizing effect to the patient
Patients may have difficulty using the equipment resulting in low satisfaction
The method is hinged primarily on the knowledge base of the nurse
Telenursing Practice
Scope
Telenursing according to the American nurses association is a subset of Telehealth. The latter according to the Health Resources and Services Administration can be defined as; using electronic information and the telecommunications technologies to provide long distance public health and health administration, clinical health care as well as professional health education to patients. This is a practice that is not restricted to nurses and physicians only as other medical professionals can use it in the areas of radiology, psychology and pharmacy among others (Aaacn.org, 2014).
For a nurse who would want to practice Telenursing, it is crucial that they first understand what it is in the first place. This will give them a better chance of making the right choice regarding this new practice and its place in the career goals. The term Telenursing comes from two words which are; Tele and nursing. Tele is a word that indicates distance, while nursing is the professional practice of providing care for those that is sick (Russo, 2001). Ideally, this means that the term Telenursing refers to use of information technology and telecommunication platforms to provide health care to patients that are in a distant locale. It is important to note that the telenurses are not limited to telephones as they also interact with other equipment such as peripheral devices, life lines, computers, microphones, cameras, internet and other sensor technology gadgets (Telecare.org.uk, 2014).
Telenursing is a relatively new practice is increasingly gaining traction due to the fact that it reduces the number of resources dedicated to health care at any one point. The cost comes down, time is saved and the patients learn fundamental skills of self care. It is important to note that, thi...