Melissa
Reference:
Monday, July 16, 2018
Melissa
jsu9657e@stu.jsu.edu, abullard@stu.jsu.edu, jsu7417m@stu.jsu.edu, ecrabtree@stu.jsu.edu, sdeweese@jsu.edu, ldjonrethall@stu.jsu.edu, mduckett@jsu.edu, jfrank@jsu.edu, sgross3@stu.jsu.edu, lharris1@stu.jsu.edu, jsu7884i@stu.jsu.edu, jsu9319n@stu.jsu.edu, tmorrow@jsu.edu, gparker3@stu.jsu.edu, mrichey@stu.jsu.edu, ktubbs@stu.jsu.edu, jsu9591k@stu.jsu.edu, mmwilliamson@jsu.edu, cinman@jsu.edu
As technological advances continue
to expand connectivity and communication, the number of patients and nurses
engaging, in social media increases. DNP nurses will play a significant role in
identification, interpretation, and transmission of knowledge and information
within healthcare. Social media is platform that can assist nursing faculty in
helping students to gain greater understanding of and/or skills in professional
communication; health policy, patient privacy and ethics; and writing
competencies. The high capacity
connectivity solutions empower you to maximize application performance and
deliver better user experiences with a network that is optimized to scale as
your business grows. Simplify and minimize risk with consulting services,
access-agnostic, application-ready connectivity, managed services and security
from one global partner – trusted by the world’s leading brands. Global Connectivity is a comprehensive guide for policy makers and industry leaders
to develop a roadmap to the digital economy. The network economy is a term for
today’s global relationship among economic elements characterized by massive
connectivity. The central act of the new era is to connect everything to everything in
deep web networks at many levels of mutually interdependent relations, where
resources and activities are shared, markets are enlarged, and costs and risk
are reduced (Fiala, 2016).
jsu9657e@stu.jsu.edu, abullard@stu.jsu.edu, jsu7417m@stu.jsu.edu, ecrabtree@stu.jsu.edu, sdeweese@jsu.edu, ldjonrethall@stu.jsu.edu, mduckett@jsu.edu, jfrank@jsu.edu, sgross3@stu.jsu.edu, lharris1@stu.jsu.edu, jsu7884i@stu.jsu.edu, jsu9319n@stu.jsu.edu, tmorrow@jsu.edu, gparker3@stu.jsu.edu, mrichey@stu.jsu.edu, ktubbs@stu.jsu.edu, jsu9591k@stu.jsu.edu, mmwilliamson@jsu.edu, cinman@jsu.edu
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
The Future of the Healthcare Industry
Introduction
At
present, humanity is in the middle of an electronic information revolution. Although
industries across the spectrum of human activity utilize electronic
information, no industry has been affected more using this information than the
healthcare industry. Much like electronic information sharing enables distance
learning, so too does it enable healthcare delivery at a distance. One would think
that caring for patients via a digital monitor and microphone is counter
intuitive, particularly given the caring environment and holistic care nurses
now deliver to patients. However, there are some instances where there are no
other options. The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) promotes
telehealth as a healthcare option in rural areas where there are no doctors,
hospitals or clinics.
In
terms of the electronic information revolution, the terms “telehealth” and “telenursing”
describe two different functions in the healthcare industry. The prefix “tele”
means “at a distance”. As noted by the HRSA, “telehealth is defined as the use of electronic
information and telecommunication technologies to support and promote
long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related
education, public health and health administration.” Supported by the Office
for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT), the federal government through HRSA
promotes telehealth programs that serve citizens in rural areas. Telenursing is
similar in that care is delivered at a distance. The Encyclopedia of Nursing
Research defines telenursing as: “the use of telecommunication technology
to provide nursing services to clients at a distance” (p. 504). Notice in this
definition the term “telecommunication,” which today means high-definition CCTV
feeds delivered over the Internet. With telenursing it is the professional
scope of the nurse that matters. In other words, in telenursing the
professional must extend care beyond the bedside and create the caring
environment at a distance. While modern telecommunication technology helps manage
the distance, the nurse must reach beyond the screen and develop trust and the
therapeutic bond without personal physical interactions.
Impacts
The
impact of telehealth on the healthcare industry has been monumental and
progressively reformative. It was already noted that through OAT HRSA promotes
telehealth programs for rural areas of the country. As an extension of “being
online”, people that live in rural areas are no longer cut off from the rest of
the country. This means that from a public health perspective, these citizens
contribute to the larger context for the delivery of national health
initiatives. Program such as Healthy People 2020 reach into these rural
communities using telecommunication technology.
Another impact is the use of the
electronic health record (EHR) as promoted by the Health Information Technology
for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. Under HITECH, the
federal government provides incentives to move to an all-electronic record
format, or EHR. Patient records follow patients from cradle to grave and allow
for insights into things such as preventative medicine. That said, telehealth
has promoted the dissemination of these records into single sources of
information. A patient’s EHR contains records from all healthcare industry
related items the patient encountered. Lab reports and prescription orders are
now part of the same record. HITECH promoted EHRs are part of the federal
government’s initiative to reduce the cost of healthcare. This is important to
telehealth because the telecommunication equipment used by healthcare
professionals must be HITECH compliant regarding patient privacy.
Benefits and Barriers
Benefits for telehealth encompass
three categories that have plagued the healthcare industry: access, cost, and
delivery. Stern (2017) noted telehealth delivers “immediate, around-the-clock access
to physicians, specialists and other health care providers that otherwise
would not be
available in many communities” (p. 4). Moreover, because of telehealth, patient
can be monitored without leaving their homes. Telehealth cuts costs of
healthcare because much of the monitoring can be accomplished without the
presence of humans. A primary barrier is that many older healthcare
professionals may not trust the efficacy of telehealth. This is generally
because they hold fast to the physical care aspect of care, believing hands on
is the best way to treat patients (Kayyali, Hesso, Mahdi, Hamzat, Adu &
Nabhani-Gebara, 2017).
Privacy and Security
As noted above, patient privacy and
security is an issue imbedded into EHRs and their use. A primary reason the
Obama Administration passed the HITECH Act was the protection of patient
records in the larger cybercriminal perspective. EHRs are not the property of
patients; they are owned by the healthcare system that created them. This means
that patients do not have complete control over their EHRs, which in
cybercrime-ridden world means protecting patient privacy is a function of the
healthcare system using the EHRs. That said, HITECH is used in conjunction with
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA). Every
aspect of care from the administration of the healthcare system to the delivery
of care using telehealth processes must conform to both laws. This means that
users must be ethical in using EHRs.
Conclusion
As a new DNP I will champion the use
of EHRs. This means that in everything aspect of healthcare, I will encourage
and depend on their use to manage things such as shrinking budgets and
promoting preventative care. From a research perspective, I believe it is
crucial that DNPs embrace telehealth to improve health outcomes in an
evidence-based practice format driven entirely by electronic information.
Nurses under my supervision will learn and understand the organizational work
culture needed to promote telehealth and telenursing. In this way I will be a
servant leader that promotes responsibility and leadership in other nurses.
References
Kazen, M.
W. & Fitzpatrick, J. (Ed.). (2012). Encyclopedia of Nursing
Research. Springer Publishing Company.
Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA). (n. d.). Telehealth Programs. Retrieved from https://www.hrsa.gov/rural-health/telehealth/index.htmlKayyali,
R., Hesso, I., Mahdi, A.,
Hamzat, O., Adu, A., & Nabhani Gebara, S. (2017).
Telehealth: misconceptions and experiences of healthcare professionals in
England. International Journal Of Pharmacy Practice, 25(3),
203-209. doi:10.1111/ijpp.12340
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