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Nursing is no longer limited to merely a supporting role in healthcare. Nurses can chart a career path in many specialties and at different seniority levels. As a result, more nurses are completing advanced nursing degrees, such as a master’s or doctor of nursing practice (DNP).

This increase in advanced practice nursing benefits the sector in many ways. Here’s how advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) impact patient care.

Nurse practitioners can act independently

As nurses progress up the education ladder, they gain more skills. Nurse practitioners (you reach NP status when you have a master’s or doctor’s degree) can act with more autonomy than registered nurses who hold a bachelor’s degree. 

The scope of responsibilities differs from state to state. In states where nurses have full practice authority, they can:

• conduct physical examinations
• order diagnostic tests
• make certain diagnoses
• put together treatment plans
• manage chronic conditions
• prescribe certain medication

In reduced practice states, nurse practitioners can order tests and diagnose but may require physician oversight to prescribe medication. In restricted practice states, nurse practitioners must perform all tasks under physician supervision or with physician collaboration. 

They can provide greater support in emergency care

Emergency and critical care facilities are often under strain during times when there is an influx of patients. Because nurse practitioners have advanced medical training, they would be able to treat patients at low to mid triage levels, allowing doctors to focus on more urgent and life-threatening cases. 

They can fill the gap in the shortage of healthcare workers

Globally, the healthcare sector is facing a skills shortage crisis. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there will be a shortage of 18 million healthcare workers by 2030 and an additional 9 million nurses and midwives will be needed to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 3. 

Additionally, the Association of American Medical Colleges expects a shortage ranging between 46,900 and 121,900 physicians come 2032.

These stats are alarming and to make matters worse, many healthcare workers quit the profession during the COVID-19 pandemic or are planning to leave soon. Thus, there will be an urgent need for healthcare workers with advanced skills in the future. 

Nurses who complete a master’s or doctor’s in nursing practice program today can step into this vacuum so that patient care isn’t compromised in the future. 

They can open their independent nursing practice

In full-practice states, nurses can operate their independent nursing practice without physician oversight. This offers patients an alternative to seeing a doctor for preventive healthcare, to treat minor health issues, and manage chronic conditions. It also alleviates the caseload for physicians who are stretched to capacity. 

Nurse practitioners must meet the following educational and licensure requirements:

• Have completed an advanced nursing degree program, such as a doctor of nursing practice program. 
• Passed a national certification exam with a recognized certification board, such as the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. 
• Have a valid state license. 

To continue practicing, most states require that nurses renew their certification every five years and their license every 2 years. 

They can specialize

Nurses, just like doctors, have the option to specialize. Nurses who complete an accredited doctor of nursing online program can choose a concentration in pediatrics, adult-gerontology, midwifery, and mental health, to name a few. 

Nurses who specialize can act as a second set of eyes to the physician. Their focused training means they could spot changes in a patient’s physical or mental health or catch early symptoms that a doctor may have missed. 

They can influence policy

Nurse practitioners who wish to move into leadership roles in healthcare can complete a Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree or a Ph.D. 

A DNP is more clinically focused while a Ph.D. is more research-focused. Both will allow a nurse to rise to a more prominent role, one in which they can influence policy, advocate for improvements in patient care, and champion patient safety rights. 

They can shape future nurses

Nurse educators are in big demand and are likely to become more sought after to help train a new generation of nurses. Training isn’t limited to clinical practice but also to new technology, techniques, global healthcare trends, and the policy environment. 

The healthcare industry is changing and so are patients’ expectations. Nurses will need an understanding of concepts such as health tech, telemedicine, data analytics, artificial intelligence, integrative medicine, and personalized medicine. 

In conclusion

A career in nursing no longer needs to follow one linear path. With the right training, there are hundreds of nursing specialties to pursue. Advanced practice registered nurses are at the forefront of serving the patients who require specialized care. 

Healthcare is evolving.

Technology is changing the way we live and work, and that’s especially true in the medical field.

Remote patient monitoring devices and services make it easier than ever for patients to care for themselves while still getting the support they need from healthcare professionals.

Here are seven benefits of using remote patient monitoring devices and services.

What is Remote Patient Monitoring?

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is the process of remotely monitoring a patient’s health status and collecting health data from them. 

This can be achieved in various methods, such as using sensors to track vital signs or having patients report their symptoms.

Remote patient monitoring can be used to enhance patient care by providing clinicians with timely information about their patients’ health, which can help them make better treatment decisions.

It can also help patients stay healthy by allowing them to monitor their own health and receive feedback from clinicians.

How Does Remote Patient Monitoring Work?

There are various ways that remote patient monitoring can be used to collect data about a patient’s health.

One common method is using sensors to track vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation levels.

Other methods include having patients report their own symptoms, using remote video consultations, or collecting data from devices that patients are already using, such as activity trackers or smartwatches.

Clinicians can access the remote patient monitoring data in various ways, including through secure websites, mobile apps, or dedicated remote patient monitoring devices.

Seven Ways Remote Patient Monitoring Solutions Give You the Upper Hand

Now that we know what remote patient monitoring is and how it works, let’s look at seven benefits of using remote patient monitoring devices and services.

Increased Patient Safety

One of the most essential benefits of remote patient monitoring is that it can help improve patient safety.

Remote patient monitoring devices and services allow clinicians to more quickly identify and address patient issues, which can help prevent serious health complications.

For example, if a patient’s vital signs suddenly start to fluctuate, remote patient monitoring can help alert clinicians so they can take action before the situation becomes worse.

Improved Clinician Efficiency

Another great benefit of remote patient monitoring is that it can help improve clinician efficiency.

Remote patient monitoring services and devices allow clinicians to see all of a patient’s health data in one place, making it easier to detect issues and make treatment decisions.

This can help clinicians save time by not having to track down information from multiple sources.

It can also help them provide better care for their patients by allowing them to focus on the individual instead of trying to manage a large number of patients at once.

Faster Treatment Decisions

Remote patient monitoring can help healthcare providers make treatment decisions more quickly.

This is because it allows them to get a real-time view of the patient’s health data, which can help them identify problems early on.

It also enables healthcare providers to develop a more detailed understanding of the patient’s condition, which can help them choose the most effective course of treatment.

Better Patient Engagement

When it comes to taking care of their health, many patients find it difficult to stay motivated. This is where remote patient monitoring devices and services can help.

Remote patient monitoring devices and services allow patients to track their own health data and see how they’re doing over time.

This can help patients stay engaged in their care and motivated to make healthy decisions and more easily communicate with clinicians about any issues they’re having.

Reduced Costs

Nowadays, healthcare is expensive, and not everyone can afford to see a doctor every time they need one.

Remote patient monitoring devices and services can help reduce costs by allowing patients to care for themselves.

This can save patients money by not having to go to the doctor as often, and it can also help healthcare providers save money by reducing the need for in-person visits.

Improved Care Coordination

Care coordination ensures that all the different parts of a patient’s care work together seamlessly.

This is especially important for patients with chronic conditions, who often see multiple specialists and require medication from different pharmacies.

Remote patient monitoring can help improve care coordination by giving healthcare providers real-time access to the patient’s health data.

This allows them to identify potential problems early and intervene before the patient’s condition deteriorates.

Improved Quality of Life

Remote patient monitoring can also improve the quality of life for patients with chronic conditions.

It allows them to stay connected to their healthcare providers, receive regular updates on their health status, and get access to educational materials and support groups that can help them cope with their illness.

In addition, remote patient monitoring can provide patients with more independence by allowing them to manage their own care.

Improve Your Health by Using Remote Patient Monitoring Devices and Services

Remote patient monitoring companies are changing the lives of patients and healthcare providers around the world.

By using remote patient monitoring devices and services, patients can get the care they need while staying comfortable in their own homes.

Nurses play a critical role in patient care and outcomes. While physicians make diagnoses and provide treatment, nurses are responsible for a wide range of essential tasks, including monitoring patients’ conditions, dispensing medication, and assisting with personal care tasks. Nursing leaders have the additional responsibility of overseeing other nurses to help ensure quality patient care. 

Although nursing leaders may have less direct contact with patients on a daily basis, their role is incredibly important for creating high levels of safety and satisfaction among patients. Many of a nursing leader’s duties affect the way the nursing staff as a whole provides care. Here’s how a nursing leader can affect these important factors. 

Staffing Decisions 

Nursing leaders are typically in charge of hiring and firing new nursing staff. Making staffing decisions is a difficult balancing act for nurse leaders. They have a budget they must stick to, but they also have to hire enough staff to meet the needs of the organization. 

Making good hiring decisions can also be challenging when it comes to finding the right people for the job. There may be many applicants, but if only a handful are qualified or experienced enough, there might be a shortfall. Inexperienced nurses will need to be paired with more experienced professionals while they gain knowledge and confidence on the job, while others may simply lack the dedication and skills needed to be successful. 

However, staffing shortfalls can lead to issues with patient safety and affect the patient’s overall experience. An experienced nursing leader must balance all of these factors when making hiring and firing decisions to ensure a high level of care. 

Training Protocols 

Adequate staffing alone isn’t enough to ensure that patients are well-cared for. A nursing leader should emphasize ongoing training for their nursing staff so that they continue to build new skills and reinforce their current training. 

Professional development is important as the field of medicine evolves. Nursing leaders who look ahead to the future can improve patient care and safety by ensuring that nurses receive ongoing training. 

In addition to creating a more skilled workforce, ongoing training and development can help nurses feel more invested and engaged in their work. This is essential for preventing burnout and offers a win-win for both nurses and patients. 

Clear Standards of Care 

An effective nursing leader must insist that their staff maintain high standards for safety and patient care. While every RN should know and follow the basic ethical and care standards of the profession, every organization sets its own tone and standards as well. 

In order to maintain these standards, a nursing leader must highlight and emphasize them, enforcing compliance when needed. By making standards of care clear and concise, with no gray areas for interpretation, the nursing staff will all be expected to follow and maintain the same protocols, resulting in more consistent patient care.  

Emphasizing Communication & Preventing Errors

Nurses spend a lot of time communicating with patients and their families. Many errors that occur are the result of poor communication, even when there is no language barrier affecting understanding. 

A nurse leader should emphasize the importance of clear communication, even in difficult situations. Preventing errors is a top priority within the field of nursing, as they can be a matter of life and death. In fact, around 2.6 million people die every year due to safety issues in hospitals. 

Since some errors can be prevented simply by asking questions and having conversations, nursing leaders must be mindful of how proper communication affects patient outcomes. Just a few clarifying questions can sometimes make a critical difference. 

Morale Impact 

There are a lot of people in leadership positions across industries who shouldn’t be holding these roles. Unfortunately, poor leadership is not only common, but it also has a massive impact on employee morale. 

Leaders can fail their teams in a variety of ways, but it’s not all bad news. Effective nursing leaders can inspire their teams and boost morale by providing a safe, comfortable, and welcoming environment. 

People do their best work when they’re happy. A good nursing leader knows how to maintain harmony within a team, push people when appropriate, and give them support when necessary. In this kind of environment, everyone knows where they stand and can honor their responsibilities with confidence. 

Cultural Competence

Nursing isn’t just about healing physical illness and wounds. The profession involves connecting with patients and giving them a safe space to recover. As diversity grows in the United States, however, many patients find that they do not get the sensitivity and communication they need to feel safe in the hospital. 

Cultural competence is critical in nursing to ensure that patients are given dignity and respect. Trust is an important component in helping patients to recover and preventing errors, so every nursing leader should help to facilitate this trust by teaching their nursing staff how to provide culturally competent care. 

Nursing Leaders Set the Example 

A nurse leader doesn’t have to be doing all of the day-to-day work to make a positive impact on patient care and safety. Instead, nursing leaders set the standards and example for the entire nursing staff. A nursing leader who takes steps to ensure that all nurses are providing top-notch care will see a strong, positive impact on their department’s safety record, patient satisfaction, and overall happiness among both patients and nurses. 

How Data Implementation Improves Patient Outcomes

Data is a high-growth industry that has penetrated into virtually all areas of commerce. From a strictly business perspective, it’s no small wonder that the healthcare industry has taken to it just as surely as any other market sector. 

But how does data relate to the actual healthcare process? Though data-driven patient care is a relatively young phenomenon – at least in the form it has currently taken – it has an enormous amount of potential to positively shape patient outcomes.

In this article, we take a look at how data implementation can be used to improve people’s health. 

An Endless Flow of Information

The majority of healthy people only see their doctor once a year or even every other year. During these visits, they get their vitals taken, and then have a very short meeting with their physician. For years, this standard of care has been the baseline. While it has its merits, it’s also highly subject to variables that can disrupt the results. 

For example, if the patient had a meal shortly before their appointment, their blood pressure will read artificially low. If they had coffee, it will be artificially high. If they are nervous, as many people are at the doctor’s office, their pulse will read very fast. If they are sleepy – and who isn’t sleepy? – it might read as unusually slow. 

You get readings, but they are reflective of one select moment. They don’t necessarily represent your overall health. 

Wearable health technology changes this. There are now devices that continuously log your heart rate and other key analytics that can produce a much more comprehensive view of your health. 

This constant data-taking is a relatively new development, and as such, it hasn’t yet lived up to its full potential. Nevertheless, it’s a very promising prospect. Wearables, coupled with IoT technology produce a constant data stream that can give doctors an unparalleled look at their patient’s health. 

Not only is this useful for people with known conditions, but it can be vital for those who are perceived as healthy. Many conditions require early detection for effective treatment. This is more possible than ever with wearable health technology. 

Hospital Management

It’s no secret that hospitals have a limited number of resources. Covid-19 made this fact particularly relevant as hospitals all around the world had to make difficult decisions about how they could make the most of their equipment and staff during a time of unusually high need. 

These decisions can be made easier using data algorithms. Using data, hospital managers can benefit from an enhanced understanding of where the most need is. 

This could mean diverting more staff to a certain floor of a hospital wing. For example, a program that analyzes Covid metrics may detect the early signs of a spike. The hospital manager will then know that they need more staff on the respiratory wing. 

Data can also be used for assessing what patients even require physicians. Using patient portals and calibrated algorithms, a hospital can view patient complaints by order of their urgency. Some may need to come in to be seen directly, while others may be able to have their needs met through a telehealth module. 

Not only does this save the hospital on resources, but it also costs less money, allowing patients to get the care they need at a potentially more affordable price. 

Faster Diagnosing

Data implementation can also help doctors make quicker diagnoses. Using algorithms, they can take a patient’s health history, plug in their symptoms, and receive a quick list of probable diagnoses. In many cases, a quick turnaround time can be the difference between a patient getting better, or getting worse. 

In this scenario, the doctor still uses their own knowledge, but instead of sifting through dozens of possible scenarios, they are left with a manageable handful of possibilities.  

Blockchain

Naturally, a patient’s health history is very personal, private information. As healthcare drifts closer and closer towards broad data usage, security becomes a big issue. After all, if companies like Marriot can’t keep their customer data safe, what hope does a small rural hospital have?

Blockchain makes data implementation safer. It provides encryption that simultaneously makes data more secure, and easier to share amongst qualified professionals. 

This technology makes it very easy for patients to have access to important health records even when they are far from home. If a person finds themselves hospitalized out of state, or even in another country, they can trust that their records are being shared securely thanks to blockchain technology. 

Administrative Advantages

Data implementation also has significant administrative advantages. While these benefits may not be experienced by the patient directly, they do impact their ultimate quality of care. Administratively, hospitals can use data to make more informed decisions about upkeep, patient scheduling, supply management, and all manner of other features that make a hospital tick and hum. 

Though less palpable, these benefits can have a keen impact on the patient experience. If you’ve ever been in a waiting room where ten people seem to have the same appointment time, you understand the truth of this. 

Community Outreach

Health data can also be an important aspect of community outreach. For example, if data shows that a certain segment of the population is unusually averse to getting the flu vaccine, data can help healthcare professionals identify what sort of people fall into this category, and then help them make an advertising campaign that is tailored towards that section of the community. 

Similarly, healthcare professionals can also use community data to anticipate things like an isolated Covid outbreak. Since March of 2020, we have seen that Covid may spike in certain parts of the country, even when the numbers are very mild overall. 

Data can anticipate and isolate these projected spikes to make sure that the community that is to be impacted by them is aware of the situation ahead of time. 

Accurate Patient Data is Crucial for Positive Patient Outcomes

Since there’s no standardized and effective patient identifier in place, patient misidentification is rampant in the US – leading to duplicate medical records, identity theft cases, denied claims, and patient safety issues. None of the above points will be effective until patient data integrity is ensured – RightPatient helps with the latter.

Several hospitals are using RightPatient – a touchless biometric patient identification platform – to help them ensure that accurate medical records are being selected. It utilizes patients’ photos to identify medical records accurately – making it a safe, seamless, and easy patient identification process for everyone involved. RightPatient prevents duplicates, prevents identity theft cases, and improves patient outcomes by identifying EHRs accurately across the care continuum.