Technology Needs Assessment

Technology Needs Assessment

Telehealth refers to the delivery of healthcare services through digital communication technologies. Technologies used in telehealth include remote patient monitoring, electronic record systems, and mobile health applications. Telehealth is essential when there is a distance barrier between healthcare providers and patients. It also enables continuous medical education of health care providers. It ensures that timely, quality patient care services are provided.

There is a need for upgraded telehealth technology. The upgrade should include remote patient monitoring and electronic health record systems. Currently, nursing services are not readily accessed by all patients. Some patients come from isolated communities and rural areas. Such patients cannot access health care services freely.

Furthermore, some patients are limited by time and mobility. During medical emergencies, these patients fail to get the necessary life-saving healthcare services. The mortalities and morbidity rates observed in this group of patients necessitate a needs assessment. The level of interprofessional collaboration in providing patient care is low. Has hindered the collaboration. The absence of an effective and timely communication channel has hindered the collaboration. Decreased collaboration lowers the quality of services delivered to the patients.

The other issue that necessitates a needs assessment is the amount of paperwork currently used. A lot of paperwork is currently used in the health institution. Patient treatment plans and prescriptions are done manually. This increases the risk of loss of patient information because there is no backup. Furthermore, patients’ privacy and confidentiality are most likely to be lost when a lot of paperwork is used. The ratio of patients to medical specialists in the healthcare institution is very high. Patients who require urgent attention are most likely to experience delays in having access to the specialist. The prognosis of these patients worsens, and their quality of life is lowered. An upgraded telehealth technology will ensure that specialists serve more patients by eliminating the need for physical appointments.

Failure of the institution to conduct the needs assessment will lead to substandard patient care services. Furthermore, patient mortality and morbidity rates will increase, and society’s quality of life of society will deteriorate. The first assumption underlying these needs assessments is that the patients and healthcare workers have access to digital communication technologies. The other assumption is that those who have access to digital communication technology can use it appropriately.

The upgraded telehealth technology will include both remote patient monitoring and electronic record systems. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) enables nurses and other healthcare providers to make follow-ups of patients’ health data remotely (Park et al., 2018). Mobile applications, wearable devices, and other monitoring devices transfer information from patients to nurses. Electronic health record (EHR) systems contain a specific patient’s information (Taylor et al., 2015). Past medical history, current diagnoses, allergies, and current medications and health institutions are contained in the EHR system.

The upgraded telehealth technology will address different nursing issues affecting patient care. The first issue is the improvement of patient compliance. Patient adherence to medication instructions and lifestyle modification determines the prognosis of a disease. In RPM, diabetic patients are required to upload information such as blood glucose readings and weight (Lee et al., 2018). These readings will help the nurses to evaluate the level of patient compliance with their medications. Good patient compliance with insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents is associated with well-controlled blood glucose levels (Lee et al., 2018). Higher readings suggest that the patient is not taking the medications as instructed. Higher weight readings imply that the patient’s lifestyle modification is not satisfactory. Nurses should conduct follow-ups on patients suspected to be non-compliant. Patients should be educated to ensure that they follow instructions to the letter.

The second letter issue that the upgraded technology will address will address is improved evidence-based practice. Remote patient monitoring allows the nurse to monitor the patient’s response to treatment (Lee et al., 2018). The patient’s vitals are transmitted daily to the nurse. An evaluation of the effectiveness of a particular treatment plan can be determined based on the vitals obtained. This evidence can be used to modify the treatment plan of the patient or to change to an alternative plan.

Furthermore, by comparing vitals from two patients on different treatment plans, the best plan can be identified and used in future encounters. Electronic health record systems also promote evidence-based practice. The past medical history, patient allergies, and current medication enable nurses to make informed decisions during their encounters with patients (Koivunen & Saranto, 2018). They will avoid medications likely to cause hypersensitivity. Furthermore, drug interactions are averted.

The third key nursing issue addressed by the upgraded telehealth technology is patient and interprofessional collaboration. Nurses and other healthcare professionals should collaborate with patients to ensure that desired outcomes are achieved. Interprofessional collaboration is also important to ensure that quality patient care is provided. Remote patient monitoring fosters nurse-patient collaboration. Based on the vitals, nurses provide feedback on the patient’s progress (Lee et al., 2018). This provides an opportunity for patient education and clarification on unclear instructions. Communication and coordination between nurses and other healthcare providers are upheld through electronic health records. The EHR contains physicians’ contact. This can improve communication with nurses when treatment plans are unclear (Blijleven et al., 2017). The best treatment plan is chosen after the consultations. It improves the quality of services offered to patients.

R governs the upgraded telehealth technologyRegulatory requirements, and safety considerations govern the upgraded telehealth technology. The first regulatory requirement is licensing. States have different licensing requirements. Some States allow cross-border delivery of healthcare services under specific circumstances (Park et al., 2018). The health institution should adhere to the licensing policies of the patient’s State. The second requirement is the Clinician-patient relationship. Some states don’t have any restrictions when telehealth is used to access patients. The other States stipulate that clinicians should first visit the patient before telehealth services are conducted.

The other regulatory requirement is informed consent from patients before telehealth services are conducted. The consent can either be verbal or written, depending on the State’s provisions. The other regulatory requirement is reimbursement from private insurance or Medicaid (Park et al., 2018). Reimbursement for these services differs among States. It can either be full reimbursement or partial, in which some States may restrict online prescribing. Prescription of certain medications requires the patient to visit the hospital. This is both a regulatory requirement and a safety requirement. Such medications are usually controlled substances that can cause harm if not used correctly.

Infrastructural requirements include internet access, training, and technical support. Adherence to these requirements can be accomplished by reviewing the telehealth policies of different States. The institution should identify patients’ States and review their policies before using telehealth technology. The hospital management committee can assess fThe hospital management committee can assess the fulfillment of infrastructural requirements. It should ensure that healthcare providers can effectively manage the upgraded telehealth technology through regular training.

The upgraded telehealth technology will uphold patients’ privacy and confidentiality. Patients will be identified by codes rather than their names. All personal health information will remain confidential. This information includes past medical history, diagnosis, laboratory results, the patient’s demographic data, mental status, insurance information, and treatment plans (Chaet et al., 2017). Passwords and data encryption will be used to ensure privacy, availability, and integrity of all transmitted information. Some areas of uncertainty exist in this telehealth technology. The health care providers can not detect health care providers can not detect unauthorized access by the patient’s friends or relatives. This is because biometric verification is absent.

The internal stakeholders include the chief executive, the chief nursing officer, and the head of patient services. The external stakeholders include accreditation agencies and the State Health Department. The chief executive officer (CEO) is involved in the daily operations of the hospital. The CEO oversees all of the activities and ensures that they promote the growth of the hospital. The CEO is likely to advocate for a technological upgrade that increases the competitive advantage of the hospital. The chief nursing officer oversees all nursing activities and ensures that quality patient services are provided (Ingwell-Spolan, 2018). The chief nursing officer will focus on how the upgraded telehealth technology addresses key nursing issues that influence patient outcomes.

The head of patient services focuses on the quality of services provided to the patient. Furthermore, the head of patient services focuses on the confidentiality and privacy of patients. This stakeholder will emphasize the importance of upgraded telehealth technology to uphold patient confidentiality. Accreditation agencies will investigate whether the institution adheres to State regulatory and safety requirements. The State Health Department ensures that the community is healthy. This stakeholder is likely to advocate for telehealth technology that will improve the quality of services provided to patients.

The stakeholders will be engaged to ensure that the upgraded telehealth technology is acquired. Regular stakeholder meetings will take place at specific timeframes during which the effectiveness of the upgraded technology will be assessed. The possibility of staff resistance will be addressed by conducting regular training activities. Furthermore, the technical support staff will be available to help staff whenever a problem is encountered.

References

Blijleven, V., Koelemeijer, K., Wetzels, M., & Jaspers, M. (2017). Workarounds Emerging From Electronic Health Record System Usage: Consequences for Patient Safety, Effectiveness of Care, and Efficiency of Care. JMIR Human Factors, 4(4), e27. https://doi.org/10.2196/humanfactors.7978

Chaet, D., Clearfield, R., Sabin, J. E., & Skimming, K. (2017). Ethical Practice in Telehealth and Telemedicine. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 32(10), 1136–1140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-017-4082-2

Ingwell-Spolan, C. (2018). Chief Nursing Officers’ Views on Meeting the Needs of the Professional Nurse: How This Can Affect Patient Outcomes. Healthcare, 6(2), 56. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare6020056

Koivunen, M., & Saranto, K. (2018). Nursing professionals’ experiences of the facilitators and barriers to the use of telehealth applications: a systematic review of qualitative studies. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 32(1), 24–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12445

Lee, P. A., Greenfield, G., & Pappas, Y. (2018). The impact of telehealth remote patient monitoring on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of systematic reviews randomized controlled trials. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3274-8

Park, J., Erikson, C., Han, X., & Iyer, P. (2018). Are state telehealth policies associated with the use of telehealth services among underserved populations? Health Affairs, 37(12), 2060–2068. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05101

Taylor, J., Coates, E., Brewster, L., Mountain, G., Wessels, B., & Hawley, M. S. (2015). Examining the use of telehealth in community nursing: Identifying the factors affecting frontline staff acceptance and telehealth adoption. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71(2), 326–337. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12480

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Conduct a health information technology needs assessment. Then, present your findings and recommendations in a 4–5-page executive summary regarding a new or upgraded telehealth technology for your organization or practice setting.

Technology Needs Assessment

Note: Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.
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Nurse leaders play a key role in the decision-making processes associated with the purchase of health information technology and any subsequent technology upgrades and improvements. A thorough and accurate needs assessment establishes a foundation for evaluating the overall value to an organization of the various technologies that can be used to support nursing and improve patient care.

The needs assessment you will conduct in your first assessment enables you to take a systematic approach to developing knowledge about a new or upgraded telehealth technology that would impact nursing practice. The needs assessment also identifies assessment work that may already have been completed and any gaps that still exist and must be addressed. The goals of completing the needs assessment are to:
1. Identify gaps in practice that must be addressed to improve patient care.
2. Understand the nature and scope of needed changes and identify associated opportunities and challenges.
3. Enable a thoughtful and systematic approach to change implementation and management.