Quite often, nurse leaders are faced with ethical dilemmas, such as those associated with choices between competing needs and limited resources. Resources are finite, and competition for those resources occurs daily in all organizations.
For example, the use of 12-hour shifts has been a strategy to retain nurses. However, evidence suggests that as nurses work more hours in a shift, they commit more errors. How do effective leaders find a balance between the needs of the organization and the needs of ensuring quality, effective, and safe patient care?
In this Discussion, you will reflect on a national healthcare issue and examine how competing needs may impact the development of polices to address that issue.
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources and think about the national healthcare issue/stressor you previously selected for study in Module 1.
- Reflect on the competing needs in healthcare delivery as they pertain to the national healthcare issue/stressor you previously examined.
Post an explanation of how competing needs, such as the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients, may impact the development of policy. Then, describe any specific competing needs that may impact the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected. What are the impacts, and how might policy address these competing needs? Be specific and provide examples.
From module 1
Main Post
Introduction
The healthcare environment is significantly growing, which explains the reason for the existing significant issues. Improving the quality of healthcare requires a strong emphasis on critical aspects such as leadership, cost of care, skills and service delivery, technology, as well as patient management practices. A significant health care issue currently has been technological disruption. Substantial changes in the healthcare industry that are being undertaken are dependent on technology. This provides a unique platform where it is more accessible to attain better health outcomes across different settings.
Quality has been a critical measure in the delivery of quality healthcare outcomes. The integration of different results has aimed at providing a unique system where it would be easier to improve healthcare outcomes. The ability to incorporate technology in monitoring patient development offers a strong emphasis on essential processes which help maintain a unique level of engagement within a healthcare setting. Within my healthcare organization, patient information has been stored using healthcare information management systems compared to previous documentation of patient information in healthcare files (Engelhardt, 2017).
Management of healthcare information has become a critical factor which provides a strong consideration on critical processes which help create a reliable system. The inclusion of health information management systems has integrated vital processes which help identify important concepts which help manage patient information. Storage of patient details provides a strong consideration on specific aspects which help improve the level of commitment among healthcare providers (Sultan, 2015). The health information management system that has been put in place identify specific measures which focus on ensuring that there is quick information retrieval of patient information. Accessing patient information within a healthcare context requires authorization from a patient or when reviewing the patient situation.
The impact of technology disruption in my workplace
Integration of technology in healthcare is aimed at controlling healthcare errors. It is a crucial aspect to consider primarily based on previous errors in healthcare delivery. The use of technology is aimed at improving efficiency in the delivery of healthcare. In my workplace, management of patient health information is a significant improvement to the storage of health information which has been a considerable challenge, especially retrieval of patient files. The use of technology has made it possible to access patient information from a cloud-based database quickly (Schwamm, 2014).
Conclusion
The use of technology has also created challenges, especially concerning the common cyber threats. The fact that we deal with sensitive patient information, they are at a higher risk of falling victims to intruders who target such information. The present risks are significant. Thus, integration of vital information security risks will help in controlling the current risks through the development of robust techniques. The techniques are integrated into the healthcare industry to protect patient information. Thus, management of these risks has been a significant aspect to consider in ensuring that there is a better level of implementation of healthcare outcomes. Thus, technology disruption is having both positive and negative influence in healthcare.
References
Engelhardt, M. A. (2017). Hitching healthcare to the chain: An introduction to blockchain technology in the healthcare sector. Technology Innovation Management Review, 7(10).
Schwamm, L. H. (2014). Telehealth: seven strategies to successfully implement disruptive technology and transform health care. Health Affairs, 33(2), 200-206.
Sultan, N. (2015). Reflective thoughts on the potential and challenges of wearable technology for healthcare provision and medical education. International Journal of Information Management, 35(5), 521-526.
