Is Technology Improving Nursing Care?

[rwingo]

http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archiv.../19/c7329.html

Is Technology Improving Nursing Care?
SASKATOON, June 19 /CNW Telbec/ - E-nursing, the use of information and
communication technology in nursing, is revolutionizing the way nurses
interact with patients, deliver care and communicate with colleagues. This
week, over 1,000 delegates attending the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA)
biennial convention and annual meeting in Saskatoon are discussing the timely
theme Advancing Technology and Preserving Caring in Nursing.

"Equipment such as computer terminals on hospital units, laptops for
community health nurses and personal digital assistants for charting at the
bedside are as necessary as stethoscopes for health-care providers to do their
jobs," says Deborah Tamlyn, president of CNA. "Information and communications
technology is an integrated and essential part of health-care practice."

Technology is considered key to addressing challenges to Canada's
health-care system such as geography, shortages of health-care professionals
and increasing costs. However, some experts believe that e-health is at least
10 years behind other information management intense sectors such as banking.
To ensure nurses are part of the e-health revolution, CNA is leading an
e-nursing strategy aimed at bringing the nursing community up to speed with
other industries.

"Technological innovation has swept the globe, and nurses have accepted
the challenge this evolution brings," says Lucille Auffrey, chief executive
officer of CNA. "Today, nurses work in a variety of e-health programs such as
tele-triage. They access online libraries and databases of clinical practice
guidelines in their workplaces and interact with their peers in discussion
groups over the Internet. Nurses are also involved in developing standards to
implement electronic health records, and many nursing educational programs are
now offered online."

Launch of NurseONE
As part of its e-nursing strategy CNA launched NurseONE, the Canadian
Nurses Portal, today. NurseONE (INF-Fusion in French) is personalized and
interactive to help nurses in Canada and around the world care for their
patients, manage their careers and connect with colleagues and experts with
the click of a mouse. NurseONE supports the depth and breath of nursing in all
practice settings - clinical, education, administration and research.
NurseONE was developed in partnership with the First Nations and Inuit
Health Branch of Health Canada and in collaboration with nurses, students,
governments and employers.

At the launch, Auffrey told delegates about the quality information
available to them through NurseONE, including journals, online libraries and
public health advisories for increased emergency preparedness. "As knowledge
workers in this technological age," she said, "it is essential that nurses
have access to the latest information at their fingertips. NurseONE meets that
need."

According to Auffrey, while technological advancements are here to stay,
they are useless if nurses can't access them or don't know how to use them.
"Access to computers and the Internet in some regions of the country is either
non-existent or slow and unreliable," she says. "We need to find ways to
improve access because health-care providers working in remote settings need a
wide range of knowledge and skills to deal with various and complex cases."
She adds, "Nurses can provide insights into how technology can enhance
care. It is essential that we play a greater role in the development of
information and communication technology solutions."

CNA is the professional voice of registered nurses in Canada. It is a
federation of 11 provincial and territorial professional associations and
regulatory authorities for registered nurses. CNA believes that the
sustainability of a publicly funded, publicly administered, not-for-profit
health system rests upon a vibrant nursing workforce.
NurseONE and INF-Fusion can be accessed by logging onto www.nurseone.ca
or www.inf-fusion.ca

For further information: Tina Grznar, Communications Specialist,
Canadian Nurses Association, (613) 237-2159, ext. 283, Cell (613) 240-7830,
tgrznar@cna-aiic.ca