Title : Facilitating patient engagement in high-tech care environments: The patient’s perspective
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 nurse’s 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 nurse’s 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.
