The nursing shortage in the U.S. has been getting worse every year, with the rising age of the population increasing the pressure on the healthcare sector to fill the gap. In the fight to bring more nurses to hospitals and medical centers, technology plays an essential role in reducing stress and fatigue. Projections have shown the potential for a nursing shortfall of 13 million nurses worldwide by 2030. Nurses at all levels are suffering from burnout and fatigue as they struggle to come to terms with a constantly shifting medical environment.
COVID-19 and the Nursing Shortage
The COVID-19 pandemic swept into the U.S. around the start of 2020 and placed extra stress on an already struggling healthcare sector. Nurses in the U.S. are in high demand because of the low number of graduating professionals and how to limit nursing losses. An aging population requires more complex nursing care and requires specialized assistance to maintain good health.
Several problems have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the amount of time lost to daily activities. Completing charts and notes is a time-consuming task that keeps nurses from their duties. Technology has been introduced to digitize the recording of information to save nurses time and energy.
The use of digital technology to record vital signs and make notes has several advantages for nurses. Those who have made the switch to digital recordkeeping can quickly make sure they provide the correct treatment. The link between physicians and nurses is closer when records are kept online. Despite the switch to digital records, a qualified applicant still needs to pass a comprehensive job background check before the hospital can hire them.
The Benefits of Advanced Technology
The use of tablets and digital records is cutting down on the amount of paper waste each medical environment produces. The problem of paper waste rivals that of the disposal of hazardous waste. A medical environment using digital records can switch to cloud storage and reduce its physical and carbon footprints.
Fatigue is playing an essential role in the post-pandemic healthcare sector. The levels of stress and pressure nursing staff are placed under have risen during the pandemic. Human error and fatigue will always play a role in the medical sector, with the use of technology giving nurses the chance to expand the safety of patients from human error. The ability for mistakes and errors to be identified quickly by physicians and nurses to identify problems.
The introduction of artificial intelligence, collaborative robotics, and other forms of technology can reduce the level of unpredictability in the nursing sector. Patients who have similar symptoms and vital signs as others can have their treatment plan adapted accordingly. If a nurse and physician understand the predictable aspects of a medical condition, they can prepare a treatment plan to meet the needs of each patient in advance.
Predicting the possible outcomes of a treatment plan has an impact on the role of nurses. A nurse who understands the direction a patient's treatment should be taking can quickly identify if they are not meeting the goals set for them by their physician. Taking the unpredictability out of healthcare reduces the number of staff members needed to monitor each patient.
Consistent innovation and predictability are the keys to a successful outcome in the treatment of patients. The learning process for artificial intelligence has become critical to the healthcare sector. As an AI system learns about the treatment processes it will make predictions and calculate possible outcomes not identified by humans. The learning process for AI has become vital to the continued success of the nursing sector in reducing fatigue and burnout. By minimizing the tasks a nurse needs to undertake, the impact of the nursing shortage will not be as sharply felt as it has recently.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of sciencetimes.com
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