5 Must-Read Technology Stories for Nurse Leaders

Keep on top of evolving tech developments in patient care.

Technology offers numerous opportunities for nurse leaders and their staff to provide better healthcare to their patients.

Advancement in technology allows nurse leaders to schedule staffing more efficiently, improve clinical outcomes, reduce human error, track data, and enhance nurses’ well-being, to name just a few.

These five recent technology stories from HealthLeaders will help nurse leaders keep on top of evolving industry developments in patient care:

1. New Jersey Health Systems Launch Digital Health Coalition to Address Maternity Care

With New Jersey’s maternal mortality rate ranking 47^th in the nation— with 46.5 deaths per 100,000 live births—First Lady Tammy Murphy launched Nurture NJ to cut that rate in half within five years.

The HTC-Wildflower Health partnership aims to bring digital health resources to bear, addressing key social determinants of health that contribute to these deaths, and create a value-based care program that rewards providers for outcomes.

The bundle includes prenatal and postnatal services and encompasses both the mother and baby and gives providers access to digital health resources, including education, virtual visits, and remote patient monitoring tools.

2. Hospitals Turn to Technology to Bridge the Communication Barrier

With so many languages spoken across the country, communication challenges are common, but nowhere is that more dangerous than in a healthcare facility, where an incorrect translation could affect clinical outcomes.

When treating a patient speaking Mandarin, Bengali, or any other language, providers typically look for a multilingual family member, find the nearest staff member who just happened to speak that language, or call the hospital's translation service and hope someone knows that language.

Digital health technology has made that process easier. Care teams can now use a smartphone or tablet to connect through an mHealth app with an interpreter in real time, even by video, on a platform that specializes in translation services. Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital (MEETH), for example, uses LanguageLine services on tablets provided by Equiva Health, a digital health patient engagement company.

3. Hospitals Look to Improve Wound Care With Software

Digital health tools such as smart bandages and sensors and reporting tools within the EHR that include images can help care teams keep close tabs on wounds and avoid hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs).

Northwell Health has partnered with Pittsburgh-based digital health company Net Health to deploy its Tissue Analytics (TA) software for wound care management. The technology is integrated into the health system's EHR platform to give clinicians more accurate wound data and allow for real-time monitoring.

At Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center on New York’s Long Island, part of the Catholic Health system, accurate and/or progressing wounds that are in question can be better monitored with the technology, according to a wound care specialist there.

4. Baptist Health Puts 'Moxi' to Work

Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, is using Moxi, a robot, to help staff and care providers with tasks that might otherwise take up time away from patients, such as transporting equipment and lab samples and even picking up items left for patients at the front desk.

The robot relieves staff from gathering supplies and medication, according to Tammy Daniel, DNP, Baptist Health's senior vice president and chief nursing officer. “Moxi’s support will allow them to focus on people as opposed to tasks, and on what they do best: patient care.”

The adult-sized robot, equipped with a gripper at the end of an arm, uses AI technology and an array of sensors to navigate busy hallways without bumping into objects or people, can maneuver through doors and elevators, and learns as it goes.

5. EHR Study Finds Value in Time Spent on the Computer

More time spent on the electronic health record platform can improve quality outcomes in primary care, though providers still need to make sure they're not overdoing it, according to research out of Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"It is notable that among all metrics of EHR time examined, there was the greatest numerical association between daily time on the in-basket and daily time on clinical review and ambulatory quality outcomes," the study noted. In-basket work is performed in addition to visit-based, revenue-generating work, often outside of scheduled clinic hours.

More time spent on the EHR "may represent a level of thoroughness, attention to detail, or patient and team communication that ultimately enhances certain outcomes," according to the research team. The challenge, then, is to find a balance between spending meaningful time on the EHR and ensuring it isn't negatively affecting care quality or the caregiver's health.