Application: Patient-Centered Technologies

Although health care professionals play a significant role in health outcomes, the day-to-day management of a patient’s health is also a personal responsibility. Physicians and nurses can provide diagnoses, interventions, treatments, and prescriptions, but they will only have an impact if patients follow through with their health care provider’s recommendations. 
                                                 
The advent of diverse health-related technologies is providing unprecedented opportunities to assist patients in maintaining control of their health.  Consider for a moment health and fitness mobile apps, talking pill bottles, and smart apartments. New patient-centered technologies are being developed every day!

For this Assignment, you will select a health-related mobile app, personal health record, smart technology, or an interactive social media site that is helping patients to better manage their health.

Note: For the purposes of this assignment, a “mobile app” is defined as a technology application that can be viewed, played, and stored on smartphone devices and tablets.

To prepare:

• Review Chapter 35, “Consumer/Patient Engagement and eHealth Resources”, in the course text, Essentials of Nursing Informatics, and consider how technological innovations are transforming the ways patients’ access health-related information.

• Reflect on the various patient-centered technologies that you or others may use, as well as those gaining attention in the media. 

• Conduct research on patient-centered technologies that assist users in managing their own health.

• Select one technology category such as apps, personal health records, smart technologies, or interactive social media sites to further explore. Examine the parameters of a specific patient-centered technology within this category. How does this technology put patients in control of their health?

To complete:

Submit a  5-page paper by Thursday 07/21/2016 that addresses the following:

• Identify the patient-centered technology that you selected, as well as the population of patients for whom this technology is designed.

• Describe how this technology is tailored toward patient use. Specifically, explain how the features, functions, and design can help patients manage their own health.

• Explain the risks and benefits this technology might bring to users.

• Predict the impact this technology might have on patient health outcomes. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from the Learning Resources and any additional sources. 

Note: If you choose to select an interactive social media site, text- or article-based websites such as WebMD or Health.gov may not be selected. For the purposes of this course, interactive social media is defined as a digital technology that allows users to manipulate, interact with, and/or engage with other users. Ensure that if you choose an interactive social media site, it adheres to this rule.

Reminder: The School of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references.

Readings

• Saba, V. K., & McCormick, K. A. (2015). Essentials of nursing informatics (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

  • Review Chapter 1, “Historical Perspectives of Nursing Informatics”

    In this chapter, the authors explain the transition from paper-based records to electronic records. The chapter provides an overview of the historical events that contributed to the rise of electronic health records.

  • Chapter 25, “Care Delivery Across the Care Continuum: Hospital-Community-Home”

    Chapter 25 analyzes the impact of home health on the health care system. The chapter explains the current level of home health technology and how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) changes this aspect of health care.

  • Chapter 44, “Initiation and Management of Accessible, Effective Online Learning”

    This chapter explores the psat and present perspectives of distance education, important teractive electronic tools and essential strategies for the online learner.

  • Chapter 45, “Social Media in the Connected Age: Impact on Healthcare Education and Practice”

    The focus of this chapter is on the evolution of the Internet, mobile tools and the use of social media in healthcare education.

  • Chapter 35, “Consumer/Patient Engagement and eHealth Resources”

    As access to health care information increases, patients are becoming more informed about and engaged in their health. This chapter discusses current trends in health care, including patient empowerment, consumerism, and widespread use of computers and technologies for health.

• Crilly, J. F., Keefe, R. H., & Volpe, F. (2011). Use of electronic technologies to promote community and personal health for individuals unconnected to health care systems. American Journal of Public Health, 101(7), 1163–1167.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

  The authors of this article describe technologies that have been used to increase access to health care for underserved populations. The authors present strategies, benefits, and challenges of addressing this issue, and they provide examples of successful programs.

• Walker, J., Leveille, S. G., Ngo, L., Vodicka, E., Darer, J. D, Dhanireddy, S., … Delbanco, T. (2011). Inviting patients to read their doctors’ notes: Patients and doctors look ahead: Patient and physician surveys. Annals of Internal Medicine, 155(12), 811–819.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

  In this article, the authors discuss the results of their study on the outcomes of allowing patients to read their doctors’ notes. The study highlights the benefits of sharing notes with patients and how doing so can promote better outcomes.

• Wynia, M., & Dunn, K. (2010). Dreams and nightmares: Practical and ethical issues for patients and physicians using personal health records. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 38(1), 64–73.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

  The authors of this article highlight the primary uses and benefits of personal health records (PHRs) as an electronic health record (EHR) tool. In addition, the article presents an overview of practical and ethical issues that may emerge from integrating PHR components into EHR systems.

  Media

• Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012f). Electronic health records and data ownership. Baltimore: Author. 

  Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 9 minutes.

  In this media presentation, Dr. Roy Simpson discusses how the data derived from patient-centered technologies can be used to increase the quality of care given to patients. Dr. Simpson also highlights how patients can harness the power of these technologies to make more informed decisions about their health. Dr. Simpson concludes his segment by examining the ownership of patient information in EHR systems.

Optional Resources

• Hertz, B. T. (2012). Physician-designed app empowers patients. Medical Economics, 89(1), 30, 32.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

• Sands, D. (2010). Dr. Danny Sands: Knowledge is power [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgC6meGxQLQ