The Future of Technology in Nursing: Use of Mobile and Wearable Devices

The Future of Technology in Nursing
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The Future of Technology in Nursing
Technology has created a lot of changes over the recent past, especially in the world of medicine. It has allowed the transfer of data either to the patients or to the doctors, thus enabling easier access and delivery of healthcare. As such, a lot of focus has been placed on nursing informatics, a practice that allows the integration of nursing science and technology so that patient data can be converted into useful knowledge for patient care (McGonigle, Hunter, Sipes, & Hebda, 2014). Information and communication technologies have been instrumental in enhancing nursing informatics. It is, therefore, important to look at the future of nursing concerning information and communication technologies. This paper will identify an information and communication technology that will be used in the future and discuss its impact on nursing care as well as the necessary training required for its successful integration into nursing practice.
In about five years to come, I envision the use of mobile and wearable devices in wireless patient monitoring on a global scale. In particular, I see a future where nurses use handheld tablets that are connected to patients’ rooms and bodies for efficient communication and convenience in monitoring patients. Currently, patients can use mobile applications to track their health and to remind them of their medical check-ups or health status (Ben, Ben-Jacob, & Wang, 2017). Imagine a situation where nurses and doctors have access to the same information recorded by these mobile or wearable devices, in real-time? This interconnectedness is the future of telehealth. These mobile and wearable devices will be used in several ways. First, they will be used to track patients’ health needs and provide statistics on the same. According to Amin, Islam, Biswas, Khan, and Kumar (2018) wireless patient monitoring devices collect sensitive medical information from patients which can be processed to provide data for diagnosis, treatment, and recovery of patients. With wearable devices, patient data can be collected at any time of the day, even when patients are sleeping. When such devices are connected to nurses’ handheld tablets, nurses can go about their day monitoring patients without necessarily being in the same room with the patients. Besides, I envision that nurses will be able to send the same information to doctors in real-time, which will facilitate efficient communication of patients’ medical issues. Second, wearable and mobile devices will be used to manage chronic conditions. As noted by Zhu and Cahan (2016), patients with chronic conditions are ever-increasing, which translates into an even higher cost of medical care. This calls for better strategies for managing chronic diseases to reduce healthcare costs. The use of wearable and mobile devices can be an effective strategy because patients with chronic conditions will be monitored around the clock regardless of whether they are at home or in the hospital. Nurses can be able to stay updated on the conditions of their patients, thus being able to provide interventions and /or recommendations on time (Zhu & Cahan, 2016). This wi...