As we integrate technology more and more into our lives, many industries are also looking to implement the same technology to better serve their audience. Within the Medical field, technology is one of the backbones of the industry. For nurses this technology is necessary in providing the proper care for patients and providing the best experience for the patients and their families.
Microsoft recently held an Empowering Health event in Belgium, to discuss the impact of technology on the future of nursing. At this event, over 200 professionals in the health industry discussed the impact of technology in this “mobile first, cloud first” world. The discussion covered many areas of technology in medical from how nurses hold data from patients to the use of applications to better serve patients in hospitals. Joan Hankin, Global Director for marketing at Intel, was asked to speak at this event and reported on her own ideas regarding the impact of technology in the nursing community.
One particular app that Joan Hankin highlighted was from the Odense University Hospital. Called Talk2Care, this app aides nurses in communicating with patients in ICU. In situations where patients can only do as much as nodding or shaking their heads, Talk2Care, an icon-based app on mobile devices, gives the patients the ability to further communicate with medical staff and family. This gives nurses valuable insight into the necessary steps to provide better care.
A noteworthy part of the discussion involved talks on future technologies such as Virtual Reality and the impact these new advances in technology will have on the nursing community. Joan spoke about the growing problem of a worldwide shortage of nurses and stated that while, “Technology will go some way to alleviating this shortfall through improved workflows” she hopes bigger change will happen through the use of future technologies like VR, avatars, and even robots.
With Microsoft pushing innovation with their latest augmented reality headset, HoloLens, and the impact their demos have had on the medical field, engineering and gaming, the future of nursing with this technology is a possibility. Do you agree with Joan on the impact technology could have in the nursing community? Let us know in the comments.
