NURS FPX 6224 Assessment 2 Technology Evaluation and Needs Assessment
Student Name
Capella University
NURS FPX 6224
Professor Name
Submission Date
Technology Evaluation and Needs Assessment
Technology evaluation and needs assessment is an important job that identifies the gaps in health systems and services to deliver through a systematic process, in the healthcare sector. These processes involve consultation with stakeholders, the process of work evaluation, and indicators to ensure that the process is linked to the institutional objectives. Quantitative data can be complemented by qualitative information, which provides a strong foundation on which decisions and improvements can be supported. This kind of assessment identifies the items of weakness in infrastructure, training across a region, opportunities for innovations, and focuses on resource planning and staff preparedness. The assessment will test mobile apps that will be used to upload patient-generated data in Emory Healthcare’s system.
Relevance of Needs Assessment
The needs assessment is the beginning of any efforts toward change in Emory Healthcare—it’s a systematic process of determining the need for change through a gap between current operations and desired outcomes. By gathering the data, both qualitative and quantitative, nurse leaders, and indicator scores for patient satisfaction, clinical workflow, staff feedback, and equipment stock, a nurse leader will have a clear picture of potential bottlenecks, resource constraints, and potential needs. The evidence-based basis implies that any new technology or change in staffing that is recommended, whether it is to address the greatest gaps in patient flow or to bring in a new technology, will be used to address these most critical gaps – and won’t rely on anecdote or assumption. This type of needs assessment not only serves to safeguard Emory as it strives to become a clinical leader, but also to best use the investment of time, budget, and training resources.
Needs assessment is used by the nurse leaders to determine the use of technology that will be more effective in the delivery of care. The first step is for nurse-leaders to conduct an assessment of existing systems and discover underutilized digital resources, legacy systems, or hardware constraints, and then compare this with workflow needs such as bedside charting, administration, or providing interprofessional handoffs. At the same time, leaders are conducting a survey and interviewing the front-line workers to get a sense of the proficiency level and training needed that may impede adoption, Zemmel said. New thinking on the part of their leadership, combined with the expertise of technology, can also help leaders draw up specific desired solutions. For instance, leaders could utilize mobile technology to assemble real-time records, incorporate remote monitoring dashboards, or update clinical decision-making algorithms to make the operations more effective, decrease errors, and enhance team communication.
Given that the needs assessment process is a crucially important one, in which nurse leaders can have a rigorous process for decision making and resource allocation, this is an important skill to learn. By converting the data into an action plan priority, leaders can build their own compelling business cases for executive support, technology, and/or training investments, and prioritize departmental action to support Emory Healthcare strategies for quality improvement and innovation. In addition, interventions that are explicitly related to defined needs would result in measurable positive impacts on the staff allocation to patients and staff efficiency, and on improved patient health and her/his well-being (Kreuter et al., 2021). This helps to establish a plan for ongoing monitoring and refinement that builds on evidence and helps establish the credibility of the leadership.
Assumptions
Prior to the needs assessment, the following assumptions were deemed to be crucial. Every day processes, patient care, and other activities may be missing out on technology, which creates inefficiencies. Work colleagues may not be appropriately trained or confident in using Digital tools (Giebel et al., 2023). Patients are also keen to have a “digital experience,” and the current setup may not adequately cater to this.
Technology Infrastructure in Healthcare
Emory Healthcare intersects with a multitude of digital solutions, rooted in Epic, the electronic health record (EHR), for example, and connected across the entire enterprise through picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), enterprise-wide laboratory information management and a unified, enterprise-wide pharmacy automation system. The network of mobile workstations on wheels allows for data security and a wireless connection for the clinicians so that they can access patient records, order patient care, and communicate with each other as they go about their duties. Telehealth platforms are used for virtual visits/transitions of care in primary, specialty, and post-op care (Emory Healthcare, 2020). A single analytics engine and data warehouse provide a complete view of clinical, operational, and financial data to help monitor quality and predict future experiences.
The resources above all increase efficiency – and decrease duplication of documentation, ordering, and standardization of care pathways – by adding clinical decision support. They provide increased effectiveness by providing alerts in real time, such as early warning scores, drug interaction alerts, etc., and support the coordination of care by multidisciplinary teams across sites. System downtimes on a regular basis, or slow legacy integrations, are an additional threat to care delays on more complex cases.
The greatest need is an application that is patient-centric, that takes the EHR functionality and enhances it in a mobile application that can be used to upload patient data to the provider or healthcare team. This solution needs to be multilingual, low bandwidth, and allow for easy 2-way communication of data from home devices measuring vitals and symptom trackers. This would be beneficial in that it would minimize the paperwork that would be involved with the registration personnel and reduce any transcription errors. The solution enables everyone – no matter their language, literacy, or geographic location – to be actively engaged in their care, which helps Emory Healthcare achieve key objectives of efficiency, quality, and equity.
Conflicting Data
Mobile applications to upload data provide better patient engagement, and allow continuous monitoring of patients, but also pose security and interoperability issues. Some doctors are concerned that it might cause an added burden in the workflow, add to cognitive function, and even worsen physician burnout. Others, however, like Solomou, have suggested that these problems can be the exception because of the designed training, careful implementation, and robust data protection measures taken. Prior to considering the widespread deployment, decision-makers need to consider, dispassionately, what benefits (or costs) a widespread deployment would provide, and the implications for equity.
Technology’s Impact on Outcomes
By leveraging a mobile application that would be enhanced in patient-centric ways in the Emory Healthcare setting, the shortcomings in continuity, timeliness, and data accuracy in the care system that contribute to poor clinical outcomes and poor nurse performance could be addressed. The app allows real-time uploads of home monitored vitals, symptom diaries, and pre-visit questionnaires for easy detection of any clinical changes, thereby not missing the sign of any clinical deterioration and reducing transcription errors that are associated with paper-based reporting. Continuous data streams enable nurses to detect patterns of increased heart failure severity in their early stages and alert the physician when a patient is not taking medications, thus avoiding escalation of complications, Samal and colleagues (2021) said.
Aside from Emory’s current Epic EHR, the app should integrate the EHR to allow for rapid bidirectional interoperability via fast healthcare interoperability resources (FHIR)-based application programming interface (APIs) to achieve the goals of reducing manual data entry and having patient data populate patient nursing dashboards and trigger alerts for clinical decision support. This will be implemented in a targeted pilot at the heart failure clinic, and then further cycles of feedback with frontline staff (nurses) or information technology experts will be conducted in a short time. This approach to getting adopted will culminate in enterprise-wide implementation, along with regular releases of this system, which will allow for an easy adoption. A variety of complementary e-learning modules and hands-on workshops will equip both nurses and patients with the necessary skills, while unit-specific ‘designated’ champions or change managers will help with the transition to the new mobile workflow and change management.
When deployed, the new mobile data upload feature will allow patients to actively engage in their treatment, which will build patient self-management, satisfaction, and trust. This has led to higher quality, more recent information for clinicians to use when creating individualised care plans, which reduces complications and stays, and is beneficial for patients (Willems et al., 2021). To sum up, this technology aligns with the goals of Emory Healthcare, which include efficient patient care, high quality and equitable care, which has been shown to help lower readmission rates, enhance patient experience scores and engage nursing staff.
Improving Collaboration and Efficiency
A patient-generated data to upload system with a dedicated mobile application provides a single, real-time information stream to Emory Healthcare’s care coordinators, nurses, physicians, and pharmacists. The app’s FHIR-based integration eliminates the need to use the current variety of portal messages and paper logs by pushing structured entries directly into Epic dashboards. This common view optimises handovers, enhances timely interdisciplinary huddles, and minimises duplication of outreach. The app helps team members to collaborate on care planning by providing them with access to the same, up-to-date vital data and symptom patterns, which helps them build consensus and make faster treatment decisions.
The app replaces the need for inconsistent phone reporting and manual transcription by having preprogrammed thresholds and automatic alerts (abnormal BP, increasing weights, and others). These notifications help immediately initiate clinical decision support in the EHR, which results in earlier interventions such as sepsis protocols or medication review, which are often missed by the current retrospective review process. Electronically validated data is more consistent and accurate, helping to reduce adverse events and protect vulnerable patients by minimizing transcription errors and information gaps.
The mobile app streamlines and simplifies paperwork and duplicates for registration and nursing personnel. Entries easily upload with no hours of lag time for completing charts; instead of handwritten logs, patients send them by fax or bring them with them to the session. Briggs ) showed that home-measured vitals can be automatically imported into de-duplicated order entry, and manual reconciliation tasks can be eliminated, allowing clinicians to spend more time with patients. This process is streamlined compared to current workflows, which in turn facilitates flow, maximizes staff allocation, and meets Emory’s goals in providing efficient, patient-centered services.
Knowledge Gaps
While it’s extremely well designed, nothing is certain regarding adoption rates and digital literacy among demographics. The effect of bandwidth variation in rural, not well-served areas is still a mystery at this time. To achieve data privacy and cybersecurity protocol adherence, additional validation is needed to ensure it is compliant and trusted by users. The impact of ongoing remote monitoring on clinician workload and alert fatigue has yet to be investigated.
Supporting Equitable Patient Care
Patient-generated data that is uploaded on the mobile app helps to power equitable health care in Emory, with multilingual capabilities, font size options, and low bandwidth modes, helping patients who speak English as a second language, have visual impairments, or limited bandwidth capabilities in their rural areas. The app’s design offers a new approach to patient vitals and symptoms reporting by enabling every patient to share their vitals and symptoms in a preferred language and format, something that is not available in the current Emory Healthcare’s combination of the MyChart portal and paper records, which often doesn’t include non-English speakers or individuals with unreliable internet connections (Emory Healthcare, 2023). Unlike time-consuming hand-written logs or logging delayed on the phone, which may lead to transcription errors or favor some patients over others, they are all alerted for out-of-range values, which results in interventions that happen in time, for any patient. This live monitoring can help to close an outcomes gap for chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and other conditions because these at-risk groups can be given the same proactive care that other more “tech-savvy” types of patients are getting. The ability to post data asynchronously also promotes the use of Emory’s reach outside of the office hours and geographical walls, and the ability to provide a timely provider response to patients, who may not have easy access to the patient monitoring features otherwise. Unlike telehealth apps and services that need high bandwidth and video sessions, the app’s low data use and SMS notification service enable resource-challenged patients to interact without the need for high bandwidth. This flexibility enhances access to follow-up care, education modules, and outreach from the care coordinators, to fully engage all of Emory’s clinical resources to benefit each patient.
Assumptions
There are several assumptions that underlie the explanation. Patients from all walks of life can get their hands on smartphones, and they are web literate – a multilingual interface should help them cross language barriers, and intermittent connectivity will work in less bandwidth scenarios. It also assumes the clinician will be able to process and subsequently react to the data fed to him/her. It assumes that if there is adequate protection of the information regarding the patients, then they will trust it. Last but not least, it assumes that the foundations (Training, Infrastructure, etc.) are in place to support the organization.
Conclusion
An assessment of needs could be a tool for Emory nurse leaders to identify the gaps in technology, inform evidence-based interventions, and inform a balance of resources to meet strategic goals. It improves patient outcomes, safety, efficiency, and access; engages patients, increases nursing workflow satisfaction, and decreases re-admissions, thereby increasing the quality of care. Inclusive Design and the use of data in decision making to ensure efficient deployment, measurable results, and patient-centred care in a diverse population are Emory’s priorities.
Related assessments for this class:
NURS FPX 6224 Assessment 1
NURS FPX 6224 Assessment 3
NURS FPX 6224 Assessment 4
NURS FPX 6224 Assessment 5
References
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