Impact of Health Tech on Clinical Decision-Making in Nursing

This essay explores the multifaceted factors influencing clinical decision-making within nursing, emphasizing the importance of patient-centered care and the impact of health technologies. Part A focuses on the key factors that influence clinical decision-making, particularly highlighting the patient's role and the importance of age and health history. Part B delves into the application of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) as a technology used by nurses for patient assessment and care, detailing their benefits in data accuracy, quality of care, and reduction of medication errors. The essay concludes by emphasizing how quality patient assessment and clinical decision-making improve treatment efficiency, patient health, and the overall reputation of healthcare providers. The analysis underscores the crucial role of accurate assessments and quality decision-making in providing effective and safe patient care, and in turn, enhancing patient outcomes.

Running head: STRUCTURED ESSAY
Structured Essay
2-27-2020

STRUCTURED ESSAY 1
Part A
The intent of this essay is to demonstrate the understanding of the factors that impact
clinical decision-making in the context of nursing and the possible influence of the health
technologies on the patient health assessment quality and thus clinical decision quality.
Factor influencing the clinical decision making of Physical Therapists
Being a physical therapist, the factor that impacts clinical decision-making is patient. I
am involved in the different decisions related to patient care against the backdrop of the
difficulties and doubts of clinical practice. Examination of clinical decision making is
important for essential to completely understanding the practice of therapists. The clinical
reasoning’s multifactorial nature includes the ability of the therapist in order to use different
knowledge sources for selectively collecting and assessing the data at the time of examination
of the patient (McGinnis, Hack, Cave & Michlovitz, 2009). The judgment of the therapist
related to the examination findings offers as a basis for the care place development. The time
a physical therapist takes the decision related to the care of his or her patient they first
consider their age, functional ability and diagnosis. This is considered to be important
because before prescribing any type of medicine or treatment it is important to know about
the patient’s age and history of the disease. If this is not done then the prescribed treatment
can have a side effect on the patient’s health.
Factor Influencing Nursing Clinical Decision Making
The patient is the factor that influences the nursing clinical decision making. In the
clinical field, nurses regularly deal with the situations under which they are asked to take the
decision of care. The procedure for selecting an alternative is the essence of the decision-
making procedure. This procedure is considered to be complex because it requires a broad
knowledge of reliable sources (Vahdat, Hamzehgardeshi, Hessam & Hamzehgardeshi, 2014).

STRUCTURED ESSAY 2
In order to take the proper decision of care, the nurses first get involved in asking the basic
information of the patient that is their age, disease, health issue, and functional ability. Age is
considered to be important for the nurse for taking the decision of the complexity of the
health issue experienced by the patient. Besides this, age is important while prescribing the
treatment to a kid because high power medicine cannot be prescribed to a child as it can have
a negative impact on the health. In addition to this, the information of the patient is helpful
for the nurse in suggesting a doctor for the treatment.
Part B
One technology process used by Nurses for Patient Assessment and Care
Electronic Health Record is the organized gathering of the patient that is stored in the
electronic format. These records are shared in diverse settings of health care. The information
is shared with the use of enterprise-wide information systems, connected networks, and other
information networks (Health IT. Gov., 2020). EHRs are comprised of detailed information
such as medical history, immunization status, vital signs, demographics, results from a
laboratory test, billing information, etc. which are used for the patient assessment and
providing care.
Electronic health records were pushed a decade ago as the key to increasing quality
care. In the current period, providers are making use of the data from the records of the
patient in order to enhance the quality of the outcome by their programs of care management
(American Academy of Family Physicians, 2020). By the combination of the different
clinical data types from the records of the system, health has supported the clinicians to
recognize and stratify patients who are diagnosed with chronic diseases. EHR can work on
enhancing the quality of care by the use of data and analytics for the prevention of the
hospitalizations among the patients at high risk (Williams & Samarth, 2010). EHR systems
are created for accurately storing the data and capturing the correct situation of a patient all

STRUCTURED ESSAY 3
the time. It eradicates the requirement for tracking down the previous medical records of the
patient and contributes to ensuring the accuracy of the data. It can decrease the data
replication risk because there is one modifiable file, which reveals that the file is up to date
and decreases the risk of lost paperwork (Ko, Wagner & Spetz, 2018).
Impact of quality of clinical patient assessment and nursing clinical decisions
With the accurate assessment of the patient, the nurse is capable to prioritize the care
of the patient. Priority-setting that is based on the assessment is emphasized as a skill that
newly trained nurses may many times lack. Inappropriately, there are situations when the
important observation is not carried out always. Besides this, the proper and quality
assessment of the patient health also leads to clear communication of nurse with a patient.
This is because the nurse can provide more details to the patients and their family members
which can address their anxieties effectively (Nursing Times, 2006). In addition to this
quality, the assessment helps the doctor in providing proper treatment to their patient.
Furthermore, the quality of nursing clinical decisions has a positive impact on the
health of the patient. The quality decision making procedure decides the quality of treatment
that is delivered to the patient. Quality decisions taken by the nurse helps in properly
identifying the issue experienced by the patient and proper medication is provided (Health IT
Analytics, 2020). Besides this, the quality of the nursing clinical decision helps in decreasing
the risk of medication errors. Offering proper information on the medication and dosing
calculators, effortlessly available in the clinical workflow, can offer a major decrease in the
errors. The quality nursing decision making helps in offering a consistent as well as reliable
information to the complete care team. Quality decisions can be taken by the nurse with the
use of trusted sources about the health issue. In addition to this, quality clinical decision
making also helps in gathering the proper data at a single place which helps in providing

STRUCTURED ESSAY 4
quick treatment and medication to the patient. Moreover, quality clinical decision making
helps in enhancing the efficiency of the treatment delivered to the patient, which eventually
improves their health situation (Hitchcock, 2011). In the end, it can be said that quality
clinical decision making helps in enhancing the image of the care center and the doctors. This
is because the decision made by them improves the health situation of their patient.
The above essay has highlighted the details related to the factors that influence
clinical decision making in the physical therapist profession and nursing. Besides this, it has
also discussed the technological process that has been used by the nurses for patient
assessment and care. From the analysis, it has been identified that the patient is the factor that
influences the clinical decision making in the physical therapist and nursing field. It has been
revealed that the age and disease history help the doctor and nurse to take the decision related
to the treatment that needs to be provided. Furthermore, the technology that is used for the
patient assessment and care is electronic health records. In conclusion, it can be said that
quality clinical patient assessment helps the nurse and doctors to provide better treatment to
the patients and clear information to their family members. In addition to this, the quality
nursing clinical decision contributes to enhancing the efficiency of the treatment and health
of the patient. It also reduces the risk of medication error for considered health professionals.

STRUCTURED ESSAY 5
References
American Academy of Family Physicians. (2020). Introduction to Electronic Health Records
(EHRs). Retrieved from
https://www.aafp.org/practice-management/health-it/product/intro.html
Health IT Analytics. (2020). Understanding the Basics of Clinical Decision Support Systems.
Retrieved from https://healthitanalytics.com/features/understanding-the-basics-of-
clinical-decision-support-systems
Health IT. Gov. (2020). What is an electronic health record (EHR)? Retrieved from
https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr
Hitchcock, R. (2011). Top 5 Benefits of Clinical Decision Support in the ED. Retrieved from
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/top-5-benefits-clinical-decision-support-ed
Ko, M., Wagner, L., & Spetz, J. (2018). Nursing home implementation of health information
technology: Review of the literature finds inadequate investment in preparation,
infrastructure, and training. Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization,
Provision, and Financing, 55, 46958018778902.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0046958018778902
McGinnis, P.Q., Hack, L.M., Cave, K.N., & Michlovitz, S.L. (2009). Factors That Influence
the Clinical Decision Making of Physical Therapists in Choosing a Balance
Assessment Approach. Physical Therapy, 89(3), 233-247.
Nursing Times. (2006). The impact of accurate patient assessment on quality of care.
Retrieved from https://www.nursingtimes.net/clinical-archive/haematology/the-
impact-of-accurate-patient-assessment-on-quality-of-care-07-02-2006/

STRUCTURED ESSAY 6
Vahdat, S., Hamzehgardeshi, L., Hessam, S., & Hamzehgardeshi, Z. (2014). Patient
Involvement in Health Care Decision Making: A Review. Iranian Red Crescent
Medical Journal, 16(1).
Williams, T., & Samarth, A. (2010). Electronic Health Records For Dummies 1st ed. U.K:
John Wiley & Sons.