The American Nurses Association just kicked off National Nurses Week 2017, honoring the nation’s three million nurses who are changing the face of patient care and compassion. Health IT Outcomes recently spoke with three nurses who also work in the healthcare IT space to hear how the latest technology advances are having a positive impact on the nursing profession. Here’s what they had to say.
When you think of nurses working in a hospital, you probably imagine them passing out medications, administering treatments, interpreting doctor’s instructions, or simply holding a patient’s hand. And, when I first graduated from nursing school, those were things I did. But my view of nursing began to change in 2002 when I was training to become a surgical nurse while serving in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.
AMN Healthcare recently released its 2015 Survey of Registered Nurses. This research included input from nearly 9,000 RNs on topics ranging from retirement, education, and emerging roles. A number of the findings struck me, the following two especially:
That leaves us with the most experienced nurses nearing retirement and the majority of remaining nurses not feeling overjoyed with their jobs, although they love nursing. This points to an overwhelming need to improve conditions for care staff. Typically, the top dissatisfier for staff are staffing/scheduling issues, e.g., being short, having to float, having shifts cancelled, and being recruited constantly to pick up additional shifts. One of the solutions to this critical concern is a combination of technology and workforce strategies that can provide more certainty with staffing, greater work-life balance, and increased time with patients. By Chris Fox, president, Avantas
Let me concede from the outset that, in this blog post, I lean toward the negative—dire predictions, worst-case scenarios, a bit of doom and gloom, etc. But I ask you, oh gentle, patient reader, how could I not? Let’s go to the satellite. You can see warm air from a low-pressure system (Meaningful Use Stage 2, not changed dramatically by the one-year extension) collide with cool, dry air from a high-pressure area (the turmoil of Obamacare) and tropical hurricane moisture (ICD-10). Tell me you don’t see the Perfect Storm yourself. And here we sit in our little fishing boat, waiting for the mighty ocean to consume us. Overly dramatic? Certainly, but still not wholly inappropriate, I will argue. By Edmund Billings, MD
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