Nursing Informatics Essay

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Recommended: Positive and negative impact of technology in nursing

Introduction An understanding of nursing informatics helps nurses to implement safe, reliable care to their patients. The integration of information, data and knowledge nurses are enabled to be good decision makers (McGonigle, 2012). Labor and delivery nursing have benefited from integrating technology into the care of the mother and fetus. The perinatal nurse has a vast array of technologies that assist in establishing trust with parents during pregnancy. Doppler ultrasound is utilized during pregnancy to reassure mothers of fetal well-being. External fetal monitoring with Doppler ultrasound has limitations for fetal monitoring during labor. Technology such as the Doppler ultrasound is used to increase patient confidence in the medical field. …show more content…

The use of technology during prenatal visits helps the patient adapt to the presence and use of technology to enhance medical care. In obstetrics, especially during labor, the interaction with fetal monitoring and the patient has been studied. The results show that the patients gained trust in technology by seeing the monitor strip being recorded, and hearing the baby’s heart rate (Montague, 2010). Patients described confidence in their care with the use of technology that worked well with providers who were proficient in the usage of the monitoring technology. The interaction with the monitoring and the nursing staff provided a positive picture of technology for patients. The standard of care now involves frequent monitoring of maternal and fetal well-being during labor. Most patients can see the nurse charting on the monitor via the electronic health record. Bedside charting allows the patient to see the interaction between care providers, technology and any interventions that are necessary to protect the patient. All of these aspects of nursing care in labor and delivery increase patient confidence in the use of technology, expand trust in technology and ensure that patients are comfortable with the application of technology to provide more efficient and safer care for all …show more content…

These changes are necessary to promote patient safety. Nursing informatics enables nurses to adapt to these changes. The field of obstetrics is a good source of information to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing technology, assessing limitations of medical technology, and assessing patient response to the integration of technology as a part of routine care. Doppler ultrasound technology allows for improved assessment of fetal growth and development as well as reassurance to mothers when they are able to hear their baby’s heartbeat. Changing the standard of care to include external monitoring of maternal heart rate along with fetal heart rate would decrease the possibility of undesired outcomes with labor and delivery. Continued evaluation of patient response to care provided with the use of technology will further promote the development of better, easier technology for nurses and health care providers, as well as increasing patient safety and confidence in the medical field.

Works Cited

Bhogal, K., & Reinhard, J. (2010). Maternal and fetal heart rate confusion during labour. British Journal Of Midwifery, 18(7), 424-428.
Hale, R. (2009). Non-invasive techniques for fetal monitoring in pregnancy and labour. British Journal Of Midwifery, 17(10), 661.
McGonigle, D., Mastrian, K., (2012). Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge. 1st ed. United Kingdom: Jones & Bartlett

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