Reflect on your thoughts and feelings related to using a bedside NIS in your nursing practice.

a) What advantages do you predict?

b) What limitations may exist?

Answer:

Nursing Information Systems (NIS) are computer systems that manage clinical data from a range of healthcare settings and make it available to nurses in a timely and organized manner to help them improve patient care.

(a)Advantages of NIS.

• The immediate benefit of portable or bedside computer equipment is that nurses can remain "with" clients throughout the data gathering and recording process while still documenting the data collected and treatment provided in "real time."
• It reduces the need for duplicate documentation and allows for the storage of patient information that can be accessed quickly when needed.
• It also provides quality checks for accuracy of client care and quick processing of data into information.

(b) Disadvantages.

• Expensive- Health technology is becoming increasingly complex, and it is not cheap.
• Requires time to adapt- Technology is always changing. There will be new software, improvements, and ways of doing things on a regular basis. Hospital employees must keep up with such changes in order to maintain a competitive edge. This can be difficult for certain employees, particularly the older ones.
• Over-dependency on technology- The hospital's various departments are linked via a common information system. When one department goes down, it affects the others. This will create a great deal of inconvenience, or even worse, it may have a negative impact on the patient's health.
• Susceptibility to network hackers- This is a vulnerability for patients' medical history and other health information which should be kept confidential for ethical and legal reasons.