Assignment:

Please complete ALL THREE of the Professional Development exercises.

1. Some institutions that require students to develop e-portfolios as a part of their program of study also may use this evidence of student learning to evaluate the program quality or generate evidence for accreditation reports. What do you think should be the driving purpose behind requiring electronic portfolios – professional development planning or institutional evaluation? What are the merits of each approach?

2. Conduct a literature search for a scholarly article about e-Portfolios and how they are used in nursing. Summarize the findings, and discuss how this may be applicable within your nursing practice.

3. Investigate a healthcare informatics technology trend

• • Use both Internet sites and library resources to describe the trend.
  • Cover both hardware and software requirements.
  • Discuss considerations for implementing the trend.
  • Discuss how the technology trend will impact nursing knowledge and/or practice.

Please submit one APA formatted paper 1000 words, not including the title and reference page. Each assignment should have a minimum of two scholarly sources, in addition to the textbook.

Expert Answer and Explanation

Healthcare Informatics

The application of different forms of healthcare informatics has been of great assistance not only in nursing practice but also in nursing education. The use of technology has improved how we learn and implement different processes within our respective areas of practice. This paper will evaluate some of the applications of healthcare informatics in two areas; nursing education and practice setting. Among others, the paper will analyze the application of e-portfolio in nursing and whether it is a tool that should be embraced that is currently is.

Purpose for Electronic Portfolios and their Merits

The use of e-portfolios has been hailed to be an assistive tool in the learning process for students. The benefits are starting to be appreciated by both the faculty and the students in passing practical competencies and improving the content offered. These are just some of the driving advantages that should drive the use of e-portfolios.

To further prod into the issue in detail, it can be said that one of the driving purposes behind the development of e-portfolios should be to foster the development of the educational process rather than just focusing on the educational outcomes. E-portfolios allow the students to do an in-depth reflection of the entire learning process from the onset of the educational experience from which they can assess the progress they make and how they can apply the accrued competencies in their practice (Laux & Stoten, 2016). From understanding the collected student experiences, the faculty can also gauge whether their teaching process is imparting the right competencies on the students and areas where improvements can be made to further improve the process. Another merit for this approach is that it allows the students to assess the quality of the process, whether it is assisting them to accomplish their professional goals or not.

Another driving factor on the adoption of e-portfolios should also be to allow students to be the custodians of their own academic pathways. More often than not, students find themselves being locked into the same chain as their predecessors, whereby, they consume the content being fed to them and supposedly accomplish the outcomes which were set for them at the beginning of the course. However, with e-portfolios, students will have the ability to chart their own educational pathway by evaluating what they already know, and what ought to be learned as they progress in their competency development (McKenna, Baxter & Hainey, 2017). Therefore, e-portfolios should be regarded as a tool that will enrich the entire learning experience of the students.

Literature Search

The study selected was a study by Mollahadi, Khademolhoseini, Mokhtari-Nouri, and Khaghanizadeh (2018). Basically, the study talked about e-portfolio as a tool for mentoring nursing students. The authors in this study explained that one of the tools that lead to educational and evaluation promotion was mentoring. The authors also reiterated the use of e-portfolio in mentoring nursing students. Therefore, the study aimed to find out the portfolio content, that can assist in enhancing the mentoring performance.

The research was a systematic review that collected data from over one thousand articles. The results collected reached came up with a standard structure of how e-portfolios should be structured, with the mentor’s comments and feedback being part of the components of the portfolio. On top of that, the nursing process was a requirement to assist in the mentoring process among nursing students (Mollahadi et al., 2018). In conclusion, the authors stated that recording experiences, feedback, among other established content using e-portfolios by nursing students can be of great assistance in mentoring during the student’s educational experience. It was therefore suggested that educational managers ought to conduct mentoring as outlined in the research, with the beneficial addition of e-portfolios in the process.

From this study, it can be seen that e-portfolios can be a great tool in nurturing student nurses, and it can also go further to also assist in mentoring junior nurses withing the practice setting (Mollahadi et al., 2018). By recording the experiences during educational and professional development using e-portfolios, nurses can recollect what they have learned and what they need to learn as they strive to be better in their line of work.

Healthcare Informatics Trend

One of the current healthcare informatics trends is the increased adoption of telehealth platforms in delivering care to patients. Telehealth is a concept that entails the delivery of healthcare services via electronic platforms with the facilitation of telecommunication technologies (Tuckson, Edmunds & Hodgkins, 2017). The application of telehealth platforms has been greatly influenced by the advancement of telecommunication systems which has assisted care providers to overcome the barriers of distance when delivering care to their patients. As will be discussed in detail later, telehealth services have been of great assistance in providing healthcare services to marginalized communities, especially in rural areas. Its potential has yet to be fully tapped especially when it comes to reducing healthcare disparities.

Hardware and Software

As earlier alluded, the telehealth platforms are hinged on various technological components. One of the elements includes the collaboration component that will facilitate communication between patients and care providers. They can include smartphones or computers. Another component is the database, preferably a cloud-based data storage system that will allow the collected information from patients to be stored and retrieved when needed. There are also peripheral components that include remote diagnostic tools, for example, a software application that can collect vital signs, like heart rate, blood pressure, etc., from patients.

Considerations for Implementation

When implementing a telehealth system, one of the considerations to take note is the issue of safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of patient information as stipulated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). In terms of telehealth systems application, safeguarding patient information is considered as vital(Marcoux & Vogenberg, 2016). Measures to prevent unauthorized access, for example, through hacking or destruction of patient data through computer virus corruption need to be taken. That is why the use of a cloud-based storage system is usually considered ideal. The measures can also be enhanced by installing the appropriate firmware.

Effect of Technology Trend on Nursing Knowledge/Practice

The application of telehealth in nursing practice as earlier indicated has greatly improved the efforts towards reducing healthcare disparities especially in the rural areas where access is still low (Gutierrez, Kuperman, & Kaboli, 2020). The fact that telehealth systems can overcome the barriers of distance, delivering care to those areas with low access is made possible. Another way telehealth has greatly improved nursing practice is that it has facilitated collaboration not only between healthcare professionals but also between care providers and their patients. This has in turn improved patient outcomes.

Conclusion

We can observe how healthcare technology can be applied to improve nursing education and practice. More pathways are still being considered as new trends continue emerging on the strategic fit brought in by technology to improve the entire health care delivery spectrum.

References

Gutierrez, J., Kuperman, E., & Kaboli, P. J. (2020). Using Telehealth as a Tool for Rural Hospitals in the COVID-19 Pandemic Response. The Journal of rural health: official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association, 10.1111/jrh.12443. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12443

Laux, M., & Stoten, S. (2016). A statewide RN-BSN consortium use of the electronic portfolio to demonstrate student competency. Nurse educator, 41(6), 275-277. DOI: 10.1097/NNE.0000000000000277

Marcoux, R. M., & Vogenberg, F. R. (2016). Telehealth: Applications From a Legal and Regulatory Perspective. P & T: a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management, 41(9), 567–570. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5010268/

McKenna, G., Baxter, G., & Hainey, T. (2017). E-portfolios and personal development: a higher educational perspective. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 147-171. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-05-2016-0035

Mollahadi, M., Khademolhoseini, S. M., Mokhtari-Nouri, J., & Khaghanizadeh, M. (2018). The Portfolio as a Tool for Mentoring in Nursing Students: A Scoping Review. Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, 23(4), 241–247. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijnmr.IJNMR_195_17

Tuckson, R. V., Edmunds, M., & Hodgkins, M. L. (2017). Telehealth. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(16), 1585-1592. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsr1503323

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