The Impact of Technological Changes on Nursing Education and Healthcare
The society has been experiencing a lot of significant changes which have had lots of impacts on nursing education and healthcare. These changes are whole in that they affect all aspects of the society; ranging from political, environmental, social and economic aspects. Health remains the integral aspect of the society and therefore, any shift in the above-named aspects of the society significantly affect the health of people. The very first professionals that interact with such impacts are the nurses. This paper identifies extreme and rapid changes in technology especially in patient care and nursing curriculum. One of the major advancements that have been experienced in the better part of the twenty-first century is the technological advancements which have been very fast and rapid. These advancements have been to address the existing and the imminent problems that the society faces. As a result, the need to have advanced technology that can counter these problems is important. Such societal changes cannot be ignored, especially by the nurses. The nurse educators should endeavor to include the means that enable the nursing curriculum to be well updated with the advanced technology. Such measures would enhance skill expertise and professional competence in the field of nursing. On the other hand, the nurse students should be able to understand these changes and be vigilante and swift to acquire the necessary skills from the evolving trends. This would enable the adequately address the needs of the individuals, families to communities as far as health care is concerned.
Introduction
Have you ever observed a scenario where nurses learn one thing and do another thing which is quite contrary to what they have learned? This is normally experienced when the education system has not put into consideration the means to adopt the updated technological tools. Furthermore, even if there are such considerations, there might not be practicum programs that acknowledge the advanced technology (RNAO, 2010-2018).
A Ray of Diverse Societal Trends Affecting the Nursing Curriculum and Patient Education
A ray of diverse societal trends affects the nursing curriculum and patient education. As a result, the faculties that provide nursing courses experience challenges accruing from the ever dynamic nature of the modules, programs, experiences, and requirements of nursing courses. On the other hand, the students are challenged to keep up with the ever-changing basic qualification requirements of being professionally recognized as a nurse. The students with the ability to study and understand these trends are in a better position to cope very well with the imminent health issues from diverse demographic backgrounds and diverse metropolitan cultures in a competent and professional way. One integral aspect of societal changing trends especially in the twenty-first century is the extreme and rapid technological changes in the field of health (Jacob " Vanderhoef, 2014).
Description of Changes in Technology in Patient Care and Education
Since the beginning of the millennia, there have been developments in communication technology and electronic information. These pieces of information keep growing on a daily basis due to massive researches and discoveries in the field of nursing. The exponential growth has made information the most integral component of technology in any field. The ability to access information and disseminate it appropriately in the field of nursing and patient care in the nursing curriculum puts any nursing student in the best position to develop the required skills so as to take care of the patients (Wolfe " Kabene, 2017).
The use of appropriate mechanisms and tools that access information with the aim to develop nursing knowledge skills is what needed in patient care and education. These mechanisms include the tools on the internet such as websites, the use of emails and other appropriate technologies. This enables interactions and communications from very different nursing groups from distant locations in the global arena. Electronic devices such as computers and smartphones and other programmed facilities enable easy access to information which becomes very useful in the learning process (Hamer " Cipriano, 2013).
To be able to be updated on the current events and advancements, provisions for online digital learning, availability of internet connection resources like the Wi-Fi puts an institution running nursing education curriculum in a better position to produce competent nurses who meet conventional professional standards. Besides, investing in latest technological medical equipment or enabling student access to the equipment spearheads the learning experience in a more practical way (Jacob " Vanderhoef, 2014).
The Impacts of Rapid Technological Changes on Nursing Educational Curriculum
The extreme and rapid technological changes influence the nursing education programs both positively and negatively. The positive impacts are the very beneficial aspects of advancement in the technology. The first benefit is the ability of the students to have a twenty-four hour access to the online library resources which helps the students develop skills in decision making, analytical thinking, and reflective judgment. Furthermore, the nursing students are able to study and understand any health trends in a community by reading about them online from relevant websites before interacting with them during patient care. Online platforms also enable the public to be able to access the services of a nursing firm making it convenient for patients to interact with the firm (RNAO, 2010-2018). The second advantage of the extreme and rapid technological changes in the nursing education the provisions of online tutoring from global and renowned nurse educators which paves way for constructive benchmarking through scholarships and trip visits. Such ventures promote effective and efficient leaning for the nurse students. As a result, more competent and well-experienced nurses are trained. Furthermore, such practical practices pave ways and open for opportunities for attachments and internship for finalist nurses. This serves as the best way, a nursing curriculum can prepare its students (Wolfe " Kabene, 2017).
The negative impacts are aspects of the technology that would make the institution administering the nursing curriculum and the nursing students not to meet their primary objectives. Having vast information online which is unlimited may make students spend more time navigating from one website to the other trying to find relevant information, unlike the traditional printed information resources that had specified information. Moreover, the internet has the tendency to sway off the focus of the students due to pop up messages from different websites with attractive subjects. Other social media pop-ups such as Facebook, Twitter, email and Instagram notifications play a vital role in swaying the students from the main objective of getting online in relation to nursing studies. As a result, students spent more time on irrelevant issues making their research projects ineffective (Gao, Zhanga, Wenb Yang, " Chen, 2017).
Another con is that the endeavor of keeping up with technology is that it is very expensive for both the nursing trainers and the students. As a result, it extrapolates to the patients who incur other unnecessary costs (Wolfe " Kabene, 2017).
Conclusion
Measures to train both the staff and students on the importance of embracing the new technology enhances an effective and efficient learning process in the nursing field. To those expensive technologies, collaborations or synergies can be embraced to offset the costs due to the technology.
References
Gao, Y., Zhang, P.-P., Web Yang, S.-F., " Chen, G. (2017, September 15). Challenge, opportunity, and development: Influencing factors and tendencies of curriculum innovation on undergraduate nursing education in the mainland of China. Chinese Nursing Research, pp. 113-116.
Hamer, S., " Cipriano, P. F. (2013, November 10). The value of Technology in Automating and improving patient care. American Nurse Today, pp. 1-19.
Jacob, S. R., " Vanderhoef, D. (2014). The Influence of Contemporary Trends and Issues in Nursing Education. Evolve Website, 34-38.
RNAO. (2010-2018). Health Education Fact Sheet from Nurses for you. Ontario: RNAO (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario.
Wolfe, M., " Kabene, S. M. (2017, March 17). Risks and Benefits of Technology in Healthcare. Retrieved from International nursing technology: www.igi-global.com/chapter/risks-benefits-technology-health-care/42704
