NR 360 Week 3 Assignment RUA: We Can, But Dare We? (100% VERIFIED).

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Running head: WE CAN, BUT DARE WE? 1 We Can, but Dare We? Information Systems in Healthcare Chamberlain College of Nursing WE CAN, BUT DARE WE? 2 INTRODUCTION I... t seems to be a race, which has just gotten started. Technology is speeding ahead by changing and advancing every day. With those changes come many lessons through the process of trial and error. Healthcare is doing its best to embrace technology and all of its advancements, but there comes a time when a line has to be drawn. That’s where HIPAA comes in to play. HIPAA stands for Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act. It is defined as, “A law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 addressing the need for standards to regulate and safeguard health information and making provisions for health insurance coverage for employed persons who change jobs”[McG15]. It mainly protects the privacy of patients who are undergoing treatment among other things. HIPAA is the backbone for which the medical profession relies on. BODY Technology offers people access to so many things that wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t around. Technology in the healthcare world has really opened the doors to so many new ideas and job opportunities. With that said, there are many advantages and disadvantages that go along with it all as well. The advantages are some that have completely changed the face of healthcare and the disadvantages are some that have really put things in perspective. There are moments when journeying into the future is a must accompanied with moments when taking a few steps back are key. A major advantage in healthcare regarding the use of technology that is well known to all is the existence of easy access. Hospitals and other medical facilities can now post anything they want to online such as job offers, job fairs, education classes, training seminars, and even a healthcare workers schedule. The easier it is for people to view things online and stay in contact makes it that much easier for things down the road to function smoothly. A way of correlation involves starting at the first step of a project with a clean, balanced foundation and building it up from there. Another major advantage that stems from easy access has now built up and snowballed into pure convenience. Civilians and all healthcare professionals now have the easy access and convenience of technology right in the palm of their hands, literally. There are now application systems on most electronic devices that can help patients track their health. For example, there is an application on electronic devices that help women who are experiencing their period to count and keep track of their menstruation cycle, fertility cycle, and even tell those women specific dates as to when the best time to get pregnant would be. That same application helps to track the women’s symptoms while going through their cycle as well as track when they are most likely to be experiencing another menstruation cycle the following month. Another application example comes from an article stating, “Nurses may teach patients about monitoring their health, such as tracking their blood pressure by using tools on smartphones”[WTK12]. It seems that the possibilities are now endless as to what technology can provide to the patients. There are also professional advantages for all healthcare professionals. Charting has been made much easier since the development of technology. Paper charting was always time consuming and the organization was difficult, not to mention the healthcare workers having to decipher someone else’s handwriting on top of it all. Now with the electronic charting on computers, charting is made to be less time consuming, more efficient, and always legible. Electronic charting does take some getting used to when just starting out with the programs because there are certain places where certain information is entered, but it is much easier to operate than people think. Also, within the electronic charting there are applications and websites WE CAN, BUT DARE WE? 4 available to help medical professionals. For example, there is a drug reference and database within the system that offers the choice of research if the information is not relevant to the healthcare worker. Like I stated earlier, with advantages come the disadvantages. One disadvantage regarding technology and the medical field is the lack of security. When talking about the electronic health records there are passwords for the healthcare professionals to use when logging on. Once they are logged on the system any chart of any patient who is being treated can be accessed at the medical facility. Healthcare workers know that it is ethically wrong to view other patient’s medical records that they aren’t directly caring for, but they do and it happens too often. In reviewing ethical principles involving the appropriate use of technology, healthcare professionals should have enough respect and decency for the patient’s that they wouldn’t cross those boundaries. There isn’t a more extensive security measure that is added to the system quite yet. The second disadvantage is convenience. While it is nice that things are much more convenient now, there is also an increased risk for someone to hack the information that was previously accessed. Also, with the ever changing technology and its convenience comes the extremely hard part of healthcare workers keeping up with the advancements. It seems that there is an application or website for everything. Too much information and technology can have cons to it because some people are more advanced than others when working with technology, so trying to stay on top of things may always be a challenge. Then there is the disadvantage of social media. Social media versus HIPAA seems to be the number one issue that all healthcare professionals have seen at some point throughout their schooling or career. Social media has taken advantage of technology. Social media has caused many healthcare professionals to use and abuse their license in a negative light. Now there are stricter policies and rules in place regarding social media throughout the medical facilities. For example, before a nurse is hired on at a hospital there is a background check of all social media websites before approving the potential employee. The medical facility might go as far as asking for personal passwords, etc. If anything negative is found then the potential employer has the right to discontinue the hiring process. In result, many medical professionals have been confronted about the use of technology involving social media and HIPAA. Legal principles apply very heavily in situations like this and can be easily crossed without complete knowledge. Instead, the medical professionals should refrain from posting anything on the social media websites involving any topic that could be viewed as wrong or that could disobey policies. Last, but not least there is a disadvantage when using online education and especially in nursing. In the article it states, “It might seem that educators may not be able to promote a caring atmosphere for nursing students in online education and, therefore, may not be able to have a positive impact on the affective domain of nursing education”[Ain09]. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION My recommendation for conclusion option number 2 would be to professionally decline the offer of 20,000 dollars if I were the nurse in this scenario. Yes, it is a lot of money, but when weighing the pros and cons against each other it just doesn’t turn out to be the best deal. The money would most definitely solve all of my problems right now, but later on when the hospital fires me I then have no money to pay for everything else and I could potentially lose my license if such an instance occurred. The gossip paper says that my identity would never be revealed, but there are always leaks in the press to create the juicy story, so that it gets the reader’s attention. It is just too big of a risk to chance my whole career and license. Ethically it is wrong to take the money for taking a picture of the patient when he was being treated and legally it was against the WE CAN, BUT DARE WE? 6 law according to HIPAA. After coming to a decision I would then delete the pictures and confront my best friend about calling the gossip paper in the first place. In conclusion, there are many advantages as well as disadvantages to regarding the use of smartphones, social media, and technology in healthcare. There are many ethical, legal, and professional principles that are formed involving the appropriate use of technology. HIPAA helps to keep all policies and rules firm in the regard. REFERENCES Ainsley, B., & Brown, A. (2009). The impact of informatics on nursing education: a review of the literature. Journal Of Continuing Education In Nursing, 40(5), 228-232 5p. McGonigle, D. (2015). Nursing Informatics And The Foundation Of Knowledge, 3rd Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf Online]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com T., W., & P., K. (2012). E-health and Nursing: Using Smartphones to Enhance Nursing Practice. Online Journal Of Nursing Informatics, 16(2), 10-14 5p. [Show More]

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