Title: Facilitating patient engagement in high tech care environments: The patients perspective and students lack of competency
Abstract:
The impact of the use of technology on patient care has been a focus of the healthcare industry for more than a decade. Recognizing the impact of technology on nursing practice and how this affects the nurses engagement with patients is a significant challenge for the future of nursing education and professional development. Teaching and incorporating competencies such as transpersonal caring and patient engagement in the here and now will continue to be a challenge as the evolution of technology continues at warp speed.
This nursing research is a combination of phenomenology and narrative analysis. The study explored the patients’ perspective of the nurses use of technology in care delivery at the bedside. A semi-structured interview format was used to interview a total of 18 hospitalized patients in two different acute care environments. Six significant themes evolved from the data analysis.
The nursing profession has not ignored the impact of emerging technologies on patient care, however we have ignored the importance of listening to our clients and asking how they perceive these changes in nursing practice. In addition, nursing education has not kept up with these changes and this lack of response has created a deficit in the skills needed to provide comprehensive, individualized patient cantered care. This research provides evidence, and suggestions for, additional skills and competencies that need to be developed and integrated into nursing school curricula and professional development activities.
Audience Take Away:
- Participants will revisit the importance of patient engagement in nursing care delivery and understand the significance of social justice concepts as they apply to professional practice.
- Opportunities for patient engagement in nursing care delivery will be discussed and participants will demonstrate how these concepts can be incorporated into daily care plans.
- A brief overview of phenomenology and qualitative research methods will be presented.
- Evidence will be presented that supports the development of new competencies needed in nursing school curriculums and professional development in order to facilitate increased patient engagement in high-tech care environments.
- Nurse educators, faculty and managers (at all levels) will gain an understanding of the significance that patient engagement has on patient satisfaction and health outcomes and will provide evidenced based content to expand teaching in a diversity of learning environments.
