Computers in nursing最新文献

Changes in healthcare are highlighting the need for nurse educators to include more community-focused clinical experiences in the nursing curriculum. Because community experiences often require students to travel to clinics and patients' homes at multiple distant sites, nurse educators are concerned about how to best supervise their students and maintain reliable communication links. In light of these needs, FITNE (formerly the Fuld Institute for Technology in Nursing Education) undertook a 3-year information technology research and development project known as the Nightingale Tracker. The design for the Nightingale Tracker included activities aimed toward analyzing the unique communication needs faced by practitioners in community settings. It incorporated multiple forms of user input, including requirements-gathering focus groups, nurse educator surveys, and feedback from two user tests. Subject feedback from using Tracker prototypes in the field was invaluable in the design of the final product.

The use of the Internet is expanding exponentially. More and more individuals are gaining access to the information structure once limited to universities and military applications. The ease of access and distribution of materials were never envisioned by the authors of the Berne Convention, which outlined original international copyright laws. Along with greater freedom experienced through the Internet and the creative exchange of ideas comes a quagmire of legal issues. This article identifies the issues currently being discussed by world leaders in copyright law and the implications to nursing education as it expands and explores the use of the Internet for educational purposes.

A computerized database for the collection of patient encounter information by nurse practitioner students provides insight into the number and diversity of cases seen. Menu-driven data entry and controlled vocabulary in the form of diagnostic clusters provide a mechanism to categorize and analyze the data. Faculty are able to review student clinical experience by quantitative measures such as number of patient encounters, diagnostic cluster of the encounter, and patient demographic data. Qualitative measures such as student's level of responsibility and student prior experience with stated encounter also are included in the database. Data analysis of two interdisciplinary pilots provided comparisons across disciplines of nursing, medicine, and physical therapy. A subsequent nurse practitioner student pilot provided further refinement and a broadened database terminology more inclusive of a nursing perspective. Educational and clinical issues involved in development, maintenance, and future use of the database are discussed.

Expanded application of electronic meeting software (EMS) in the business world is attributable to its discovery as a time saving and cost effective strategy for team building and group process. Group process and team building are equally important functions within the higher education environment but frequently consume hours of attention with limited productivity. Enhancements in EMS programs promise exciting solutions for completing crucial activities including strategic planning, negotiating, problem solving, consensus building, faculty/staff evaluation, multidisciplinary research and classroom instruction. The College of Nursing and Health at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio has been "wired for thought." This article presents applications of GroupSystems electronic meeting software from Ventana Corporation, Tucson, Arizona, for solving problems encountered in administration, research collaboration, and classroom teaching within the College.

This article presents a review of the literature summarizing faculty reports of their experiences with computer-mediated distance education compared with their traditional face-to-face teaching experiences. Both challenges and benefits of distance learning programs contrasted with classroom-based teaching are revealed. Specific difficulties and advantages identified by online faculty were categorized into four broad areas of impact on the teaching/learning experience: (a) faculty workload, (b) access to education, (c) adapting to technology, and (d) instructional quality. Challenges appear to be related predominantly to faculty workloads, new technologies, and online course management. Benefits identified by online educators indicate that computer-mediated distance education has high potential for expanding student access to educational resources, for providing individualized instruction, and for promoting active learning among geographically separated members of learning groups.

Automating intensive care unit (ICU) documentation saves time and assists in interpreting data and planning care. The current economic climate makes the cost of ICU computer systems prohibitive for many institutions. Any expenditure without a measurable return on investment will be scrutinized carefully. The literature describing ICU computer system benefits often is difficult to interpret. No two implementations, hospitals, or benefit study designs have been the same. Each implementation has many unique variables. These variables make study comparison and replication potentially impossible. The authors have concluded that replicating previous studies may not be relevant if the goal is to justify system cost. The objective is met by designing a study that evaluates changes in data management activities as well as issues unique to the study unit or institution. The purpose of this article is to review the findings of previous benefits studies related to ICU documentation systems and to suggest other measures to support cost justification for expensive bedside documentation systems.

The authors describe the online implementation of the standardized nursing language of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) nursing diagnoses at one 250-bed community hospital located in Chicago. A brief description of NANDA nursing diagnoses is provided along with a discussion of issues regarding implementation of these nursing diagnoses in a clinical information system. This system did not support online documentation of patient problems, therefore the challenge was to add documentation of patient problems to the system's software. This article focuses on the design and implementation of the nursing diagnoses computer screens, rather than focusing on the two problems we encountered during implementation--appropriate use of nursing diagnoses and the fit of nursing diagnoses with nursing interventions. Yet, the lessons learned in designing and implementing NANDA nursing diagnoses online may help others.

Nursing Informatics in Brazil began around 1985. In 1990, the Nursing Informatics Group at the Federal University of São Paulo (NIEn/UNIFESP) was created. The first task was to prepare students and professors to use computers. Since its creation, members of NIEn/UNIFESP have been working in clinical practice, administration, education, and research areas of Nursing Informatics. Initially, the discipline was introduced in the Doctoral and Master programs. Subsequently, all specialization degrees and undergraduate programs were provided with the discipline as well. In the research area, the author explores the use of computers as a tool to support nursing research as well as the implications of computer resources in nursing practice, administration, and teaching. However, the use of the computer as an instrument to support nurses' activities in taking care of patients still needs investment. The majority of hospital information systems do not attend to the nature of nursing practice.