HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES OF NURSING AND THE

COMPUTER

Computer is the most powerful technological tool to transform the nursing profession prior to the new century.

Today and tomorrow the computer and internet are essential for all settings were nurses function-hospitals, ambulatory care centers and schools of nursing.

Major historical perspectives of nursing and

computers

Computer technology emerge in nursing in response to the changing and developing technologies in the health care industry and in nursing practice.

How it started?

•Prior to 1960s - there were only a few experts who formed a cadre of pioneers that attempted to adapt computers to health care and nursing.

- the image of nursing was improving

-computers were used for basic business office functions

- used punch cards to store data and card readers to read computer programs, sort, and prepare data for processing.

1960’s

-uses of computer technology in health care setting began to be questioned.

-nurses station in the hospital was viewed as the hub of information exchange.

-during this period, computer technology advanced, while the number of health care facilities increased.

- -introduction of cathode ray tube terminals, online data communication, and real time processing added important dimensions to the computer system.

- hospital information systems were developed primarily to process financial transactions and serve as billing and accounting systems.

- vendors of computer systems were beginning to enter the health care field.

1970s- continued integration of computers into

nursing.

- improvement of documentation (nurses chart, vital signs, etc.)

-

-mainframe HIS were designed and develop management of care

- during this period, several states and large community health agencies developed.

•1980s- the field of informatics emerged in the

health care industry and nursing.

- updates on practice standards

- mainframe HISs emerged with nursing subsystems.

-discharged planning system were developed and used as referrals to community health care facilities.

-microcomputer or personal computer (PC) emerged.

•1990s-computer technology became an

integral part of health care settings, nursing practice, and the nursing profession.

-during 1992, NI was approved by the American Nurses Association (ANA) as a new nursing specialty.

-smaller and faster computers-laptops and notebooks arise

- workstations, local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) were developed.

- introduction of internet

•Post 2000- torrid pace of hardware and software

development and growth

- wireless point-of-care developed

-clinical information systems became individualized in the electronic patient record (EPR) and lifelong longitudinal record or the electronic health record (EHR)

-personal digital assistance (PDA) and smart cellular telephones continued to advanced

- use of Voice over internet protocol (VoIP)

-

-critical care units are monitored remotely by health care provides (eICU)

- Telenursing is increasing in popularity and providing patient care in an efficient and expeditious fashion.

- health insurance portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was enacted.

Four major nursing areas

Nursing practice

Nursing administration

Nursing education

Nursing research

Nursing practice

It become a integral part of the EHR

Emerged with the introduction of several nursing terminologies that were recognized by the ANA .

They are use to assess problems, document care and etc.

Nursing administration

Nursing administration has also changed with the introduction of the computers that links nursing department together.

Internet is being used by nurses to accessed digital libraries, online resources and research protocols at bedside

Nursing education

Most universities and schools of nursing offer computer in enhancing courses, online courses and or distance education

Live classroom lectures via digital telephone lines arise.

Nursing research

Provides the impetus to used the computer for analyzing nursing data.

Software programs are available for processing both quantitative and qualitative research data.

Computer technology data bases supporting nursing research emerged

Standards initiatives

Nursing practice

Nursing data

Health care data standards

Nursing practice standards

Developed and recommended by the ANA

They recommended that nursing process serve as a conceptual framework for the documentation of nursing practice.

Joint commission on accreditation of hospital organizations which stressed the need for adequate records on patients in hospitals practice standards

Nursing data standard

Emerged as a new requirements for EHR

13 nursing terminologies that have been recognized by the ANA

Critical care classification system

Nursing information classification

Health care data standards organizations

It is a critical review the standards organizations that have emerged to either develop or recommend health care data standards that should be recommended to the federal government as required health care data standards

Landmark events in nursing and computers

•Introduced 35 years ago

•

•The landmark events were describe by the following categories:

-early conferences, meetings

-Early academic initiatives

-Initial ANA initiatives

-Initial national league for nursing initiatives

-Early international initiatives

-Initial educational resources

-Significant collaborative events

THE END.......... :D