Term Paper on "Medical Writing Boon and Bane': The Increased"

Term Paper 3 pages (1034 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Medical Writing

Boon and Bane': The increased use of technology in modern healthcare

At least your job can't be outsourced." When I first embarked upon my career in nursing, friends and family would always joke that since I worked in a 'hands on' occupation, I never needed to worry about my job being outsourced. Now, I am not so sure, when I see a doctor provide a second opinion to a colleague for a patient he has never met, as he gazes at the patient's chart on a screen on a computer that has been sent via a pdf file, only moments ago through email.

And this is only the beginning of the wonders technological communication in the field of medicine may promise. Computer-assisted systems may make robotic surgery common in the future, and already nurses are used to using computer-programmed medication drips, and receiving patient prescriptions via a computer-automated medication delivery process. Given how overburdened the medical system is already, such reliance upon technology seems like a necessity.

But I worry. I worry when I see some tired, stressed, and distracted nurses assume that computers can make no errors, and are not careful about checking the dosage of medications dispensed by automated systems or monitoring some of the devices that are computerized. It is only natural -- what must be done hands-on gets priority. But given that one of the foundations of nursing is fostering patient self-care, establishing a relationship with all patients, and treating a patient in the context of his or her family, culture, and individuated needs, I fear this reliance upon technology is threatening the highest aspirations about the quality of care nurses strive to give. Moreover, the greater the use of technology, the easier it is to assume that nurses can take on more and more patients, to the point the system breaks.

From my perspective, I think that the ability to access patient's vital data more easily is perhaps the greatest benefit I have seen technology bestow in my practice. There is a greater and greater array of medicines used today, and people are quite simply taking more medicines than ever before. This is partly a result of the graying of the population, and partly the result of simply more prescriptions being offered to patients eager to try out a new drug they saw advertised on television. Regardless, checking for medicines that are contraindicated is more important than ever before. Also, allergies are on the rise, and enduring that patients are not harmed by their prescribed cure requires the most complete information possible, and continual checking and double-checking of the patient's chart. The more complete the information about the patient and all of his or her past and present medications, the better.

But computers and charts are not infallible. I have heard horror stories -- of 200 units of a medication being given, rather than the prescribed 20, because of a misread dosage on an automated system. Of morphine drip programmed incorrectly, and only caught just in time before it administered a dangerously high dosage. Conversely, many a patient has been… READ MORE

How to Reference "Medical Writing Boon and Bane': The Increased" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Paxil Boon or Bane? History and Neural Term Paper

Paxil

BOON or BANE?

History and Neural Mechanisms

Paxil is the brand name of an orally administered psychotropic drug, Paroxetine hydrochloride, manufactured by Glaxo Smith Kline (GlaxoSmithKline 2007). The effectiveness… read more

Term Paper 5 pages (1510 words) Sources: 3 Style: APA Topic: Psychology / Behavior / Psychiatry

---

Iliad Homer Term Paper

ILIAD by Homer, it is apparent a society that is constantly at war will lead itself to brutalization and destruction of life. "With these words he sat down, and Agamemnon… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (1985 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Family / Dating / Marriage

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>