The following well-delivered blog was written by Matthew Browning RN, MSN, APRN is CEO of YourNurseIsOn.com.   I hope you find it as insightful as I did.  Thank you Matthew for contributing.

As Paul has so poignantly illustrated in his recent articles on EHRs, Meaningful Use, CPOE, etc., the reality and the practicality of many of these systems, with their constantly moving goalposts and expectations, does not live up to the dreams and the promises being made. Millions of dollars are being wasted on the pursuit of a nebulous standard that is being corrupted by various factions, some fighting for openness, transparency and patient portability versus those wanting the control, ownership and monitoring of our personal medical records and data. If you are betting millions of dollars on these systems prudence dictates that you must be sure they are market ready and will meet regulatory approval. Besides, their are cutting-edge health 2.0 companies that will give you EHR systems for free.

While this drama has been forefront in the public eye, many new, easy to implement solutions have entered the marketplace to help get the daily business of healthcare done in ways never before possible. There are patient reminder services, staff communications tools, inventory control systems, waste management technologies and social media sites to connect facilities and their communities. Even without the spotlight, without government involvement, without the millions in promised taxpayer dollars and without the traditional healthcare company heavyweights, real change is being effected in healthcare delivery today.

What are some of the expectations we have of these types of real solutions in the healthcare environment? Well, as a nurse, I expect these technologies to make my life ‘easier’ if you will. They should help increase the amount of hours I spend at a patient’s bedside because every study shows that is the number one indicator of patient outcomes. The technology should make me more efficient in delivering the care my patients need: save steps when looking for supplies; decrease repetitive procedures; encourage efficient workflow and decrease the amount of time I must spend on non-nursing duties. Technology should enable collaborative, real-time communications with my employers, colleagues and even patients where we communicate at our best- from work, home, or on mobile devices and computers. Technologies can monitor patient status and notify caregivers when extra attention is needed, or can allow me to change my status from available to occupied or unavailable for care flow management.

As a business owner or investor, these technologies must be present and functioning today, must make the things we currently do every day more efficient and less costly, and should increase our abilities to communicate, manage, market, sell and make a profit or remain sustainable. We would like to increase our customer’s satisfaction with our services, increase their word of mouth and serve their needs while they are here. Since our customers are patients we would like technologies that help us decrease patient recidivism, infections rate, injuries and mortalities while improving patient outcomes. Since our staff is healthcare providers we would like technologies that increase employee moral, retention, satisfaction and productivity while decreasing turnover, absenteeism, vacancy rates, overtime costs and agency usage.

As a patient we expect to have these technologies make us feel well cared for, valued and respected. We do not want to fill out the same form multiple times, we want our complete, accurate, legible medical record available on demand- where ever we may be. We want scheduling software that eliminates waiting room ‘lay overs’ or technology that let’s US bill THEM when we have to wait 😉 We need to be able to research our hospitals and providers effectiveness, complaints, pricing and availability- or we will go to those who allow us to see this info. We want technologies that allow us  to age in place at home, or to help make our nursing homes better staffed and safer.           Technologies can keep us in touch with loved ones and families when separated by distance or circumstance and can connect us with providers from around the world or world renowned experts. It can be deployed cheaply, widely and quickly. It doesn’t have to do everything but it must do something well…and keep learning to do it better. Technology cannot be allowed to become an obstacle to doing business and continuing progress. We must harness its power to effectively achieve our healthcare objectives while faced with a seemingly insurmountable combination of increasing patient population contrasted with our shrinking supply of healthcare professionals. That is both the promise and the reality of technology in healthcare today. Your thoughts and comments are essential to continue the discussion and guide the adoption of technologies today in the healthcare arena. What are YOUR thoughts, wishes, needs and concerns about the state of technology in healthcare today??

About the author:

Matthew Browning RN, MSN, APRN is CEO of YourNurseIsOn.com a healthcare staff communications company. Mr. Browning is a frequent speaker, contributing author, tireless change agent and fierce advocate for Health 2.0, Patient’s Rights, Healthcare Technology, Aging at Home and Nursing. Matthew lives in New Haven, CT with his wonderful wife, Phoebe, and their energetic son, AJ. He can be contacted by email at Matthew@YourNurseIsOn.com , on Twitter @MatthewBrowning or feel free connect on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewbrowning .