Computers in nursing最新文献

This article describes the background and development of an automated telecommunications system, REACH for TLC (Telephone Linked Care), for family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease. Caregivers press designated keys on the touch-tone keypad of their home telephones to communicate with TLC and the system speaks to caregivers using a human voice controlled by an Interactive Voice Response computer system. REACH for TLC (1) monitors the primary caregiver's stress level on a weekly basis and makes recommendations and referrals if necessary, (2) provides a voice mail caregiver support network, (3) offers access to an Alzheimer's expert panel, and (4) provides an automated distraction conversation individualized for the person with Alzheimer's disease to allow caregivers a minirespite break or to use as a tool to divert troublesome behaviors. The system is being tested in a randomized controlled feasibility study and the results will provide insight into the potential of this informatics technology to help sustain primary caregivers in their vital role.

This article focuses on the creation of an on-line social support web site, Melanocyte, for people who have been diagnosed with malignant melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. The web site was created, designed, and programmed by undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students at William Paterson University. The article includes discussion of rationales for a melanoma web site, support groups and the efficacy of on-line support, and the technical creation of the web site. The article also emphasizes the use of undergraduate nursing informatics and research to prepare future nurses, and the use of the Internet as an important nursing research tool.

The representation of nurses and the discipline of nursing on the Internet is a growing and important contribution to the profession. Nursing students must be prepared for the impact technology will have on their careers. Nursing faculties can assist in the preparation of students for the role technology plays by creatively introducing computers and the Internet into the curriculum. An Internet web site was incorporated into an existing sophomore nursing course entitled "Nursing Issues: A Compendium." The course content defined the scope of the web site. The purpose of the web site was to provide a resource for further study and research into the professional issues facing nurses today. A web site evaluation tool assisted students in thinking critically about nursing resources available on the Internet. The students evaluated each web site they located for usefulness to nurses and nursing students. The benefits described by the students included learning how to use a computer, e-mail, and the Internet to locate professional information. The nursing students obtained a broader perspective of the profession.

A descriptive study, using a survey approach, was conducted among 48 American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) member respondents to determine the nursing informatics role among professional nurses working in the specialty. Members were asked to complete a survey regarding their current position, educational and work experience, continuing education, and work challenges. Although the ages of the informatics nurses parallel the national, range, most have been in the field of nursing informatics for 2.5 to 5 years and in their current position only 1.5 to 2 years. Job responsibilities and challenges indicate common issues and concerns that have implications for the specialty of nursing informatics and nursing in general.

Many new technologies are being developed to improve the efficiency and productivity of nursing staff. A key to the success of these technologies is acceptance by nurses. Davis' constructs of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were developed to measure the acceptance of computer systems. This article presents a discussion on nursing acceptance of computer systems, reviews the development of the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness measures, and reports findings of a study based on these constructs along with attitude of bedside-computer systems. Results of the study showed that nurses in general are accepting of bedside-computer technology.

The American Nurses Association has established the Nursing Information and Data Set Evaluation Center. The purpose of this Center is to develop and disseminate standards pertaining to information systems that support the documentation of nursing practice, and to evaluate voluntarily submitted information systems against these standards. The need for an evaluation center arises out of a long history of calls for standards pertaining to nursing data and information systems. These calls have come from the Secretary of Health and Human Services Commission on Nursing, the National Commission on Nursing Implementation Project, and a joint Task Force appointed by the Congress of Nursing Practice Steering Committee on Databases to Support Clinical Nursing Practice and the Congress of Nursing Practice Committee on Nursing Practice Standards and Guidelines. Standards have been developed to evaluate the completeness, accuracy and appropriateness of four dimensions of nursing data sets and the systems that contain them: (1) nomenclature, (2) clinical content, (3) clinical data repository, and (4) general system characteristics.

The widespread use of computer-based patient records and the increased implementation of telecommunications has brought to the forefront the concern of patient confidentiality. Without adequate security measures, a patient's medical information may be intercepted, accessed, modified, or deleted by an unauthorized individual. Although no internal control is absolute, the use of encryption is a powerful tool to protect data. The authors describe how encryption works and its role in the web of internal controls that protect medical information systems in general and computer-based patient records in particular.