The innovative use of technology could ease the stress of the nursing staff shortage affecting South African hospitals by supporting over-worked nurses administer the right treatment, says Lorna Powe, head of the healthcare vertical for the Computer Sciences Corporation SA.
CSC believes that while the nursing fraternity should concentrate on addressing the staff shortage through recruitment and retention strategies, information technology (IT) can be used to improve the performance of nursing and quality of care, while reducing the cost of care delivery.
"Today, fewer nurses are expected to do more with less time. Technology can help reduce errors - be they medication, prescription transcription, order, administration or dosing errors - and can simplify the care process. Technology can also minimize duplication of work and patient information, improve communication, improve patient care documentation compliance and provide additional decision support tools," says Powe.
Examples of how IT has limited medical errors include improving access to accurate, timely information; using physician order entry systems that provide real-time alerts; using bar coding for positive identification of patients, drugs and records; and as decision support systems such as reminders and alerts.
"Hand-held wireless devices have made it possible to access information and messaging anywhere and anytime and ensure that hand written notes can be translated into the computer and easily read by other staff, while bar coding has allowed staff to document transactions, track inventory and capture changes at the time of treatment or administration," says Powe.
She cites the example of a hospital in the United States that provides patients with a patient-specific, bar-coded IT bracelet. The nurse scanned the band using a Palm Pilot and was not only able to determine the list of medications that have and should be administered to the patient, but was able to check the `five rights` - the right medication, the right patient, right time, right dose and right route.
"Using technology will allow nursing staff more time to do what they do best - caring for patients." According to Powe, preventable medical errors in the US currently exceed deaths from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer and AIDS, a situation that costs American hospitals an estimated USD 17 billion to USD 29 billion a year. "This figure includes the expense of additional care necessitated by medical errors, lost income and household productivity, and disability."
She believes South African hospitals should learn from the experiences of overseas hospitals. "Hospitals in the United States and Britain are also affected by staff shortages, which have lead to unnecessary loss of life, inappropriate care, unnecessary extended hospitalization and additional costs. Many of them have successfully addressed their staffing problems by investing in IT and doing away with antiquated, paper based systems which only aggravate the burden on medical staff."
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