Blog # 10 Technology

"I love technology, but not as much as..." It's a fun song, but I think that it's true. I love that we have advances in equipment that can help detect minute changes in a patient's vital signs. I love that I can use a Doppler to find a weak pulse or check to see the position of a clot in someone's calf. I even love how easy it is to have networked electronic charting so I can view someone's information from the bedside to the nurse's station. Technology is a huge benefit when advancing our abilities to serve patients.
I love technology in education. I love that I can get onto websites that database reputable sources that are peer-reviewed so I can have easily accessible, current information when learning about diseases and procedures. I love that there is interactive software that allows me to practice going through a procedure in a virtual environment. I love that I can pretest over and over again on a website, have it track my strengths and weaknesses, and then develop a strategy to studying.
Let's face it... I love technology!
But I don't think that it can ever replace people. There will never come a time when I trust an automated system with my health. There are advances everyday in the area of artificial intelligence, nano-technology and medicine. However, in my mind, there is something lost when we take people out of the equation of providing care and teaching students who will one day provide care. I trust the critical thinking of a person over the set parameters a machine is set to function under. I believer a person can better understand a question and an appropriate answer through the face-to-face interaction with an instructor. And for a patient, holistic care can only really be given when we allow our spiritsto minister to them, which machines do no have.
So, I love technology in its ability to enhance the patient care we develop in school and provide in a career. I just never see it going beyond enhancing what we offer a patient.