Technology in Nursing! 10th Blog

Being an international student and coming from a developing country, the use of technology in America amazes me. It was overwhelming as well as astonishing for me to see the wide use of technology in the hospitals. I was just amazed to see how technology has become so important in medical field. We go for our clinicals to Overlake, and on the first day of orientation, I was surprised to see the wide range of the use of technology. Right from electronic thermometers, IV pumps to medication administration, technology is used. Even charting is done electronically. Computers are everywhere. The x-ray department and the OR were all so well equipped with the latest technology that my eyes kept travelling all around the unit. More than being stressed about working with patients, I was worried about being able to operate the machines. Working here is a total different experience than what I had in India. It was funny once how I asked my clinical instructor, “Don’t we need to calculate the drops per minute for IV infusion?” She smiled and replied, “No the IV pumps do that, but we need to know how to set the rate and time.” I was thinking to myself, “Wow! In India I had to do all the calculations.”

Technology has advantages as well as disadvantages. Technology does save a lot of time and energy. Though, I still feel there should be a balance so that nurses don’t entirely depend on technology, but focus on giving their patients quality care. As I mentioned earlier, technology does save time and energy, but it can’t love and care for a patient, nor can it empathize with patients and families. Technology is good to the extent that it helps nurses work more efficiently, but not to the extent that nurses need to depend on technology to care for a patient.

As a nurse, my desire is to care for my patient and fulfill my calling to serve God by serving His people. I hope a day does not come where we nurses will be replaced by a new invention in technology i.e. robots. I cannot imagine robots taking care of patients and am sure patients would not like that either, hopefully not. It’s great to see how the world is progressing in terms of technology, but when it comes to caring for a patient, we should keep in mind that no matter how much we appreciate technology for our convenience, nothing can replace human touch.