Technology evolves in nursing careers

Mary Hays, RN, BSN, and Mary Ann Armstrong, RN, BSN, have served as nurses for more than 30 years. Shawna Love, BSN, ENPC, has been a nurse for three.

All three have seen the impact of technology on the field of nursing.

Hays and Armstrong work at St. Luke’s Hospital, in the eICU and home care and hospice, respectively. Love serves in the pediatric urology unit at Olathe Medical Center.

When Hays entered the nursing field in 1970, she said she did not use technology on the job. Armstrong said she only used the most basic technology when she entered nursing in 1978. In 1981, when Armstrong started in home health, she said announcements were written on a blackboard and nurses kept rolls of quarters with them in case they needed to use the pay phone to call the doctor.

“If someone wanted to talk to you they had to hunt you down and find you,” Armstrong said.

With the advent of the computer, however, things began to change.

“The computer was the biggest challenge,” Armstrong said. “It took a lot of getting used to for a lot of people.”

Armstrong never used a computer until she was in her 30s. Now, she uses a laptop computer to track vital information about her patients, carries a cell phone with her and keeps telemonitors in patients’ homes.

Love has observed a change as well, though not so dramatic. When she first started a little more than three years ago, nurses were doing a lot of their work on paper. Now, she carries a laptop computer from room to room. A system implemented about six months ago allows her to scan medications and patient armbands when she administers drugs to ensure that each patient receives the correct medication. Love said this aids in the safety of her patients.

“I definitely think that it’s another safety device that we use to keep our patients safe,” she said.

In Hays’ job in the eICU, technology serves as a primary form of care. There are cameras in the all ICU rooms that allow nurses and physicians to see the patients from a distant location. This enables doctors to give instructions remotely.

With the uses of technology constantly shifting, nurses must stay up-to-date on the latest advances. Hays said that orientation now includes an information technology manager and instructions on how to use specific programs. Armstrong must go through training any time there’s an update to the program.

Love frequently experiences updates and must take occasional hour-long classes to keep up with them.

“It’s the computer that takes the most training, and that I think is here to stay for a while,” she said.

For nurses who entered the field because of desired familiarity with each individual patient, new technology might seem to be a constraint. Along with learning new technology itself, nurses must also learn to balance it with nurse-patient relationships.

“The thing that I’ve had to be aware of is not to get lost in the technology,” Armstrong said. “There’s a patient beyond that computer.”

Armstrong said sometimes she apologizes for taking a moment to enter something into the computer, because she doesn’t want the patient to feel like she is not listening.

“I think you have to work harder with all the machines around,” she said.

Despite the fear that technology could possibly come between a patient and nurse, Love said it has a more positive than negative impact.

“In my opinion the technology has helped my patient care,” she said. “It helps me throughout the day to get a bigger picture of what’s going on.”

Armstrong agrees.

“I think that to not have it you would be at a severe disadvantage,” she said. “It’s a tool. It doesn’t tell us what to do.”

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