Technology can improve the quality of healthcare service delivery and promote better patient outcomes. Examples of such advances include robotics, simulations, telehealth, electronic medication administration, and electronic medical records (Rademacher et al., 2019). Technological advancements that embrace interprofessional collaboration should be adopted to increase teamwork in clinical decision-making (Rademacher et al., 2019). This proposal evaluates a selected technology using an annotated bibliography and provides a summary of recommendations.
The selected technology topic is telehealth. Telehealth entails delivering healthcare services using remote technologies (Hatcher-Martin et al., 2021). Examples of telehealth technologies include mobile health via smartphones, video conferencing, audio technologies, and store and forward (Hatcher-Martin et al., 2021). Additionally, wearable devices can facilitate remote patient monitoring. Digital photography is the other technology that applies to telehealth (Hatcher-Martin et al., 2021). Accordingly, I am interested in telehealth technology because it provides flexibility in service delivery and optimizes workflows. Virtual interactions with patients enable them to receive timely healthcare information, access specialists easily, and eliminate the need for time-consuming physical queues for appointments (Hatcher-Martin et al., 2021). In addition, telehealth promotes interprofessional collaboration using virtual technologies hence achieving a teamwork clinical decision-making process (Hatcher-Martin et al., 2021), which is important because the quality of health care services is improved. Therefore, telehealth is a relevant technology that should be embraced.I used three online medical databases in my research. These include PubMed, Google Scholar, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). I used keywords such as ‘telehealth,’ ‘patient safety,’ ‘quality of healthcare,’ and ‘interprofessional collaboration’ to search for my research articles. Furthermore, I used the customized features to search for articles published within the past five years, 2019 to 2022. After that, I compared the search results and selected the most appropriate articles. I used the CRAAP criterion to select the articles. This criterion evaluates the credibility of sources based on their currency, relevance, accuracy, and purpose (Esparrago-Kalidas, 2021).
George, L. A., & Cross, R. K. (2020). Remote Monitoring and Telemedicine in IBD: Are We There Yet? Current Gastroenterology Reports, 22(3). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11894-020-0751-0
The article evaluates the impact of telehealth technology on the management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Remote patient monitoring and mobile health are the two telehealth technologies of interest. According to the authors, remote patient monitoring through web applications is associated with improved quality of life, compliance with medication, and lower treatment costs. The web applications have electronic symptom diaries that allow patients to report their symptoms and progress. These reports stratify patients into various categories, indicating those in remission and those with flareups. This information recommends modifications to the patient’s medication or treatment plans. The utility of web-based symptom reporting resulted in better medication adherence and improved quality of life among 333 IBD patients taking 5-aminosalicylate.
According to the article, mobile health has more than fifty-six applications related to IBD. The applications contain features such as symptom and nutrition diaries, medication reminders, and disease-related information. A specific example of a mobile health IBD-based application is the GI Monitor. In addition, mobile health enables healthcare providers to monitor patients and predict their prognosis. Patients with a poor diagnosis are prioritized for treatment plan modification. Consequently, this leads to better patient outcomes. Nurses and other interdisciplinary team members use this technology to keep in touch with patients, address their concerns, and monitor their prognosis. Furthermore, smartphone features such as videoconferencing via Zoom allow nurses and other clinicians to collaborate in real-time clinical decision-making regarding patients’ progress and treatment plans.
This article is credible because it meets the CRAAP criteria of currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose. It is relevant because it explains how nurses and other healthcare practitioners can collaborate and embrace telehealth to