How Technology Empowers Nurses: Applications & Benefits

Just as laptops have nearly replaced a patient's medical folder full of papers in doctors' offices, computers have taken a role in nursing. Not only are computers used for administrative functions in hospitals, but also they assist nurses in their daily functions, such as checking on patients and remote monitoring.

Benefits

• Computers help nurses conduct a quicker and sometimes more thorough intake on a patient; some software will prompt the nurse to ask certain questions as patients describe their symptoms, and the computer can help the nurse to rule out some diagnoses while offering others. They also allow for a centralized place to maintain up-to-date information on patients, such as their current medication and any allergies.

Efficiency

• As patients go from one hospital to another or visit a specialist, computers allow nurses to view not only records, but scans of X-rays, MRI results or CT scans, providing them with a complete picture of a patient's history.

Features

• Nurses also use computers rather than pen and paper to record notes and vitals about patients before a doctor enters the room.