NR361 Week 7 Discussion Question, Use of Personal Communication Devices in Patient Care Settings

NR361 Week 7 Discussion Question, Use of Personal Communication Devices in Patient Care Settings This week, we will discuss personal communication devices and their use in healthcare. As we focus on this topic, please address the questions below in the discussion. • How can the use of the nurse's personal communication device(s) impact patient care positively and/or negatively? • What are the ethical and legal implications? • What does the professional literature say about how communication devices can support safe nursing practice? (CRNAs) have an ethical responsibility to provide safe patient care by avoiding non-essential distractions while caring for a patient (AANA, 2015). The use of the nurse’s personal communication device(s) impacts the patient care negatively. For example, I have seen many coworkers and nurses at other facilities also use their personal device to get on social media, share pictures, or talk about vacations at the expense of the patient care. Also some nurses are so distracted in their personal device that they forget to attend the needs of the patient. The ethical and legal implications are of personal communication devices include breach of confidentiality with either pictures, or personal identifying information from the patient, as well as an opportunity to participate in unethical and unprofessional behavior (NCSBN, 2011). This also creates an opportunity to blur the lines of nurse/patient relationships through sharing personal information and potentially connecting with a patient outside of the work environment. Literature also supports the use of communication devices to promote safe nursing practice. Our hospital is working on implementing an encrypted texting program into physician’s mobile devices and those of the floors to aid in real time communication and reduce phone calls to handle time sensitive requests. According to (O’Connor, 2017) ,“Promotes personal devices to increase collaboration among medical staff, and to encourage their connection and participation in creating pertinent health policies.” Resources AANA Board of Directors. (2015, February). Mobile information technology. Retrieved from NCSBN. (2011). White paper: A nurse's guide to the use of social media. National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Retrieved from O'Connor, S. (2017). Using social media to engage nurses in health policy development. Journal of Nursing Management, 25(8), 632-639. doi:10.1111/jonm.12501