Technology Tool in the ICU Essay

Technology Tool in the ICU Essay

Please respond to the discussion • Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives. Much like what is in Parentheses at the after the discussion. • Please use these 2 references and 3 more APA 6th edition Peer-reviewed references within 2 years. Thanks • 1 American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Springs, MD: Author. • “The Future of Nursing Informatics” • 2 • Vinson, M. H., McCallum, R., Thornlow, D. K., & Champagne, M. T. (2011). Design, implementation, and evaluation of population-specific telehealth nursing services. Nursing Economic$, 29(5), 265–272, 277. • Technology Tool in the ICU One technology tool that is used in the medical intensive care unit where I work is a real-time location system that attached to the work badge. These are small wireless tags that are worn with our badge with two buttons located on them. Outside of each patients room is a light that has two color identifiers. If the nurse is in the patient’s room, a green light will appear. If the nursing assistant is in the patents room, an orange light will appear. Technology Tool in the ICU Essay. This is directly linked to the badge worn by these individuals. The nurse version of this badge has a button that if directly pressed initiates a staff assist or the ICU’s version of a code blue. This then sounds off a noise that is comminuted to all the nursing pods to let support staff knows they are needed in that patient’s room. Benefits to practice Utilization of RTLS has shown to increase nursing productivity by reducing repetitive tasks (Kamel, Boulos & Berry, 2012). For example, nurses typically have to go into a patients room and manually turn off the call light. When wearing this device, it recognizes the nurse is in the room and automatically triggers the light to be turned off (Kamel et al., 2012). It has also shown to prove beneficial to reduce the amount of time it takes for staff to start resuscitation on cardiac arrest patients (Kamel et al., 2012). This is due to them being in the room and able to press a small button for notification of a code blue event to elicit help instead of having to go out and activate the system (Kamel et al., 2012). This ensures the nurse can start CPR as soon as the patient presents with the issue and know that help is on the way. These devices can also be used to track nurse’s steps and get a map of what being in the intensive care unit as a nurse looks like on a daily basis (Kamel et al., 2012). Data can be analyzed and then ways to make-work flow better for nurses can be identified (Kamel et al., 2012). Barriers to implantation of RTLS One barrier to implantation of RTLS is that these systems are costly. On average one badge cost 60 dollars per nurse (Sooyoung , Seok, Eunhye, Eunja, Kee-Hyuck & Hee, 2018). The cost to equip a large hospital with these devices depends on how many and what kind of devices and systems are used but on average it cost between 500,000 to 1 million dollars to purchase these devices (Sooyoung et al., 2018). Another barrier to RTLS is compliance (Sooyoung et al., 2018). In order to gather data and for the system to be effective nurses and nursing aids have to wear these devices daily (Sooyoung et al., 2018). For example recently I took a patient down to the CT scanner and with the moving back and fourth misplaced my badge identifier. When I got back to the room, I realized it and had to search for the device. So human error and the nature of the job can be a barrier to this system (Sooyoung et al., 2018). Adopting this technology To adopt this technology hospital-wide will take the support through research and review of all members of the administration and IT teams (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). Reviewing current hospitals that utilized this technology and observing workflow, nurse satisfaction, and patient outcomes would be the start (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). Technology Tool in the ICU Essay. The hospital advisor team would then meet with the vendor and other stakeholders to decided if this product is worth trialing (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). Picking a pilot unit to trail the product would be next (Kamel et al., 2012). Getting feedback from all of the staff that uses the device once it has been implanted will play an essential role in if the system works for that particular hospital (Kamel et al., 2012). Then if decided upon in-services and explanations of how the system works will occur (Kamel et al., 2012). Implementing a change to the workflow will take time, dedication, and open minds (Kamel et al., 2012). References Kamel Boulos, M. N., & Berry, G. (2012). Real-time locating systems (RTLS) in healthcare: a condensed primer. International journal of health geographics, 11, 25. doi:10.1186/1476-072X-11-25 McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning. Sooyoung Yoo, Seok Kim, Eunhye Kim, Eunja Jung, Kee-Hyuck Lee, & Hee Hwang. (2018). Real-time location system-based asset tracking in the healthcare field: lessons learned from a feasibility study. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, Vol 18, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2018), (1), 1. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1186/s12911-018-0656-0 (I have seen people misplace these devices. In time I believe that an inexpensive device can be made with the technology much like the company (Tile) uses to locate keys could be used to find the misplaced locator. It’s Ironic that a misplaced tracker will need an additional tracker to find it.)

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The article discusses the benefits of using real-time location systems in the work badges of ICU personnel. It mentions that the technology offers benefits that include increasing personnel productivity, reduces response time for emergencies, and improving workflow. In addition, it notes that there are barriers to the technology adoption that include costliness and compliance. Vinson et al. (2011) adds to the discussion by noting that real-time location systems are asset based tracking tools that facilitate the placement and supply of medical personnel in health care facilities. They are intended to improve care quality and speed of care delivery, especially in emergency situations. In addition, these systems reduce costs, boost patient satisfaction and enhance work processes through tracking medical personnel (American Nurses Association, 2015). Davis and LaCour (2014) is however more critical about these systems, mentioning that their use is limited by accuracy, cost and distance concerns when comparisons are made between different personnel tracking technologies such as Bluetooth, WiFI, radio frequency identification, and barcode. Yoo et al. (2018) supports these sentiments by noting that the decision to use these systems should be made upon consideration of four factors.  Technology Tool in the ICU Essay.Firstly, the scope of personnel tracking should be considered in terms of sensor types, tracking areas, and end users. Secondly, positioning versus location that considers the technical limitations of each system in terms of distance and configuration. Thirdly, active tags design since those without signal sensing functions would be more compact in size while those with such functions would be bulkier. Fourthly, system usability and functionality that considers the users’ needs and expectations. Finally, operational and educational support that improve the efficiency and approachability of these systems (Yoo et al., 2018). Overall, it is important to note that real-time location systems offer an opportunity to track nursing personnel in the ICU with the intention of improving productivity, reducing response time, and improving workflow.

 

References

American Nurses Association (2015). Nursing informatics: scope & standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Springs, MD: Author.

Davis, N. & LaCour, M. (2014). Health information technology (3rd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Vinson, M. H., McCallum, R., Thornlow, D. K., & Champagne, M. T. (2011). Design, implementation, and evaluation of population-specific telehealth nursing services. Nursing Economic$, 29(5), 265–272, 277.

Yoo, S., Kim, S., Kim E., Jung, E., Lee, K. & Hwang, H. (2018). Real-time location system-based asset tracking in the healthcare field: lessons learned from a feasibility study. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 18, 80. DOI: 10.1186/s12911-018-0656-0. Retrieve from https://bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12911-018-0656-0 . Technology Tool in the ICU Essay.