From telemedicine to nurse training, medical technology has developed rapidly in recent years to fulfill the needs of both healthcare professionals and their patients. Now, the medical industry faces a significant issue due to the global nursing shortage, with fewer people deciding to take on nursing as a vocation. However, the technology that is starting to be developed, including telemedicine, could make rapid changes to the industry and even ease the issues that have been caused by the shortage of nurses worldwide. If you want to find out how medical technology could potentially ease the US nursing shortage, read on for more information.
The Development of Online Degrees
One of the most significant impacts that technology has had on the nursing shortage is that it is now easier for potential nurses to get the qualifications that they need to practice. This increases the likelihood of individuals deciding to take nursing up as a career by ensuring that the education that they need is increasingly accessible. Nurses can now get the right qualifications through an online degree. This allows them to take accredited courses at renowned colleges across the country, and even get additional qualifications throughout their career when they are looking to advance. The development of online degrees means that nurses can now study on their own terms, and even while they are working. At Marymount University, they provide a range of courses specifically for nurses, including an online edd organizational leadership, which can help those that are interested in teaching other nurses to progress.
Changes to the Experience of Nurses
52% of nurses say that the nursing shortage in the US has got worse, and this has a direct impact on their working conditions.
Nursing can be a challenging career path to take on, with many nurses facing difficult situations daily. This has led to an increase in the nursing shortage by making nursing careers appear to be unattractive to potential nurses. However, the technology that is now being developed is working to improve the experience of nurses and to decrease the challenges that they face every day. This will encourage more would-be nurses to look at the career paths that are available to them. For instance, scheduling software and mobile technology has given nurses greater control over their shift patterns and has ensured that they can work around their other commitments, meaning that nurses can care for themselves as much as they care for their patients.
Allows Nurses to Connect with Remote Patients
In the USA, there is only 2.86 million registered nurses, which can leave certain institutions without the staff levels that they need to treat all of their patients.
Telemedicine can completely transform the expectations of patients and the way that nurses operate, and this could have an extremely positive effect on the ability to provide care to a lot of patients during the nursing shortage. Telemedicine technology, such as software that allows nurses to video call with patients, should ease the pressure on clinics that are currently struggling with their number of nurses. This would allow patients to discuss their symptoms and to be diagnosed for minor conditions over the phone, which could vastly reduce the number of people that are booking real-world appointments to see nurses. This could be extremely beneficial as it means that nurses can see and speak to more patients during their shift.
Can Replace Nurses in Problem Areas
The states that have the most significant nursing shortages include Georgia, Florida, California, and Texas, all of which have high population numbers that are concentrated in many of the largest cities in the USA.
The areas that the nursing shortage is most problematic is in rural areas and locations such as refugee camps. However, rather than taking nurses away from their city locations where they are in the most demand, telemedicine and conferencing software can replace direct communication with nurses by allowing them to speak to their patients from anywhere in the world. Not only this, but these systems could also have the potential to replace nurses in these problematic locations, as they can provide nurses with AI symptom checkers. These can help to diagnose patients and reduce human error, even when a nurse is not directly available at the given time. This can ensure that everyone, from people experiencing mental health difficulties to people with minor conditions, can get the care that they need from an experienced nurse during the nursing shortage in the USA.
Improves Efficiency of Nursing
The nursing shortage has become unprecedented due to the coronavirus pandemic and other global issues, meaning that a call for increased efficiency is needed to enable healthcare providers to cope.
Not only this, but technology is also easing the nursing shortage by enabling the available workforce to be used more efficiently to fill many of the staffing gaps that have started to arise. Rather than leave patients with a below standard level of care, technology has allowed nurses to be easily given shifts that can cover the gaps within institutions. Technology can also help to analyze which medical units are being over or understaffed and can then work to restore the right patient/nurse ratio in the future. This can ensure that the care that is given to patients is always consistent.
Not only this, but there has also started to be some interest in telemedicine robots, which can help to monitor patients when the nurse is caring for another person. This can help to ease the nursing shortage by allowing a single nurse to check each patient’s stats remotely, rather than being stretched to care for different patients face-to-face at one time. These devices also can allow nurses to contact and speak to patients while they are working on another person. This enables them to check the state of multiple patients at once.
The nursing shortage is one of the most significant problems that has faced the medical industry in recent times. It could start to have a negative impact on patients and their families, as well as place more pressure on the current nurses that are working within the system. However, with the use of telemedicine and technology, many of the causes of the nursing shortage and its impact can be reduced, putting less strain on healthcare facilities and ensuring that health providers can give their patients a high level of care, in addition, to bring new nurses into the sector.
