NURS FPX 6224 Assessment 2 Technology Evaluation and Needs

Technology Evaluation and Needs Assessment

Student name

Capella University

NURS FPX 6224 

Professor Name

Submission Date

The healthcare technology is required for the improvement of patient outcomes, care delivery, and safety. The list of telehealth solutions has been increasing, especially in the management of chronic diseases (Lewinski et al., 2022). Mercy Medical Center provides holistic care, and even then, no continuous observation is done; therefore, the chronic diseases cannot be easily cured. The quick interventions can be absorbed by the traditional face-to-face care. The review will identify the gaps present in the technology, and the suggested Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) to improve the patient outcomes and the nursing performance.

Needs Assessment and Its Importance

It is a methodology that has been used in the calculation of the novelty between actual performance and planned performance. It helps the health organizations in coming up with the areas that require improvement. The needs assessments will assist the nurse leaders not only to evaluate the clinical process but also to identify the inefficiencies and progress the evidence-based decisions (Darach et al., 2025).

The benefits of needs assessment would be in the fact that it not only influences the resource allocation but also influences the strategic planning. They assist in making sure that new technologies solve actual clinical issues as opposed to the perceived issues. The tests also allow the nurse leaders to enhance the quality of services they provide to the patients, enhance safety, and streamline the staff performance. Without the right needs assessment, organizations would end up investing in technologies which are not responsive to the patient and provider needs.

The needs assessment would help the nurse leaders at Mercy Medical Center to evaluate the problem in chronic disease management. They include the failure to follow up on the patients, wastage of time in taking action, and inability to have real-time information on the health (Abdelhalim et al., 2024). These loopholes will assist the leaders in introducing the appropriate technology that can be embraced to improve care delivery.

Before this assessment was carried out, there were a few assumptions. The assumption was also not to closely monitor the chronic patients when they are not at the clinic. The existing technology was also not seen to be conducive to real-time data collection. In addition, it was assumed that these restrictions cause readmission to hospitals and failure to cope with the illness. These assumptions indicate the need to be systematic in terms of having a needs assessment.

An Assessment of Current Technology Infrastructure

The Mercy Medical Center has been adopting some of the technologies that can be used to assist the patients. These are electronic documentation systems and face-to-face consultations, as well as restricted telehealth. It possesses the bare virtual visits form that is not utilized in the routine carefully. Personal evaluation and self-reported data of the patient are the most vital techniques in patient monitoring (Pannunzio et al., 2024).

There are a number of strengths in the existing system. The health professionals are highly trained and experienced in the use of the tools available. The documentation systems also help in maintaining a record of the patients and in coming up with clinical decisions. The other one is the primitive access to telehealth services that offer a few distance services.

These positive factors also possess very broad gaps in the existing gaps in the technology infrastructure. It does not have a system of continuous or real-time monitoring of patients. The nonhospital clients do not necessarily follow up on their chronic patients. This nullifies the timeliness of complications. The follow-up procedures are not automated and, therefore, are an inefficient, time-consuming process. The available technology may not necessarily have the capacity to result in decent care delivery. It may be an obstacle due to the issue of physical access to a face-to-face service when it comes to a rural patient or a patient with mobility issues (Oluyede et al., 2022). This brings inequalities in the provision of care. More so, the system is responsive and not proactive. The providers are more likely to respond to the complications as they arise rather than prevent them.

Generally, the aspect of competency, efficiency, and equity in the delivery of healthcare in the Mercy Medical Center, using the level of technology infrastructure available, is not effectively addressed. The need to have a more advanced technology is quite understandable, as it is the one that can be implemented to create the system of monitoring and to make sure that timely actions are taken. Improvements to be made in the needs and gaps present.

Identified Gaps and Need for Improvement

The gaps in technology in the current technology analysis of the existing Mercy Medical Center are very high. The constant monitoring system is not applied to the chronic patients. This limits the healthcare staff from reversing the first signs of degradation. This has added to the unnecessary complication of most patients, which may result in readmission. The second gap that can be deduced is that of missing the opportunity of getting real-time information. The system of frequent visits and self-reporting of patients has not been introduced by the providers in the most fitting way (Xu et al., 2023). It will slow down the process of clinical decision-making and reduce the quality of care. The customers lack control over the digital tools as much as possible; this is why the levels of self-management are low.

It cannot be discussed as the most suitable one in terms of interactions between a provider and a patient. It is also inconsistent and manual in regard to the aspect of follow-ups (Vokksepp et al., 2025). This also adds to the inefficiency of the working process and work overload among the nursing staff. These failures also suggest that they would have to work out a solution to the technology to allow them to proceed with providing patient-centered and efficient care. The remote monitoring system is brought about in the case of overcoming such inertia.

Recommended Technology: Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is a telehealth technology; therefore, it will be much easier to gather and send the information about the health status of the patient at home and deliver the information to the practitioner. Use of computerized practices like blood pressure, glucose, pulse oximeter, among others, is also linked to it. Such machines automatically send the data of the patients to a central facility to view. It is also possible to gather real-time health data through RPM systems, and there are also warning messages that are generated in case of non-normal values (Ko et al., 2023). This will help the providers to intervene early in order to prevent complications. Most of the RPM systems consist of mobile applications that enable their patients to monitor their health and reach their care team.

The RPM implementation can be defined as the patients with such chronic conditions as diabetes or high blood pressure, in the case of the Mercy Medical Center. Monitoring and special instructions on the same would be given to the patients. The information obtained would be integrated into the current system, which would be easily accessible to the healthcare providers. The implementation plan may be embraced in phases in an attempt to create a smooth transition of the old care models. The given gaps can be addressed with the help of RPM, which is an efficient and feasible solution (Ko et al., 2023). It allows a 24-hour follow-up, improves communication and interaction with the patients. This renders it an apt technology in the enhancement of care delivery at the Mercy Medical Center.

Impact on Patient Outcomes and Nursing Care

They are also likely to have an impressive patient outcome recorded in the RPM implementation. It occurs because the deviant health indicators may be detected during the initial phases because of continuous monitoring (Haahr-Raunkjaer et al., 2022). This will assist in averting the complications, and this will reduce the hospitalizations in the hospitals. The constant monitoring of the patient and how to respond to it at the appropriate time will enable the patient to control his chronic illnesses. RPM can also be used to improve the efficiency of nursing care.

The actual patient data is given to the nurses, and this comes in handy in assisting the nurses to arrive at clinical decision-making. This restricts the utilization of slow information or information that is not performing well. Also, RPM reduces the number of visits that are not necessary, which enables nurses to concentrate on patients who need urgent care (Denker et al., 2023). Organization-wise, RPM has the ability to enhance general performance. It will be in a position to trim down the healthcare costs of rehospitalisation and emergency cases in hospitals. It also translates to improvement in patient satisfaction because of the delivery of convenient and easy care. The mentioned advantages will have a positive impact on the quality of the achieved results and the enhancement of the efficiency of the provided medical care.

Collaboration, Patient Safety, and Efficiency

RPM will also enhance the collaboration process within the medical sector since the patient data will be shared with all medical teams within the medical sector. The same can be tracked by the nurses, the physicians, and the rest of the players in the medical field in real-time. This will be applicable in the combined care and will minimize the gaps in communication. It will also lead to an additional engagement of the patients in the personal care, which will immediately improve the interaction between the patients and the providers (Wassef et al., 2025).

The safety of the patient is enhanced because the patient is monitored continuously and automatically warned. Then the deviant readings would be fitted to a restricted time frame; therefore, an intervention would be fitted. This will restrict the possibilities of medicine and errors. Along with this, the system that is currently implemented is also sensitive to the aspect of patient safety mode as opposed to the reactive mode provided by RPM.

The other one is the enhanced effectiveness in the RPM. It will save both patient and provider time as no one will be required to visit the patient at a given rate. It is computerized in order to ensure that the workflow processes are easy to gather and trace data. The nurses would also have an opportunity to deal with larger portions of patients (Dailah et al., 2024). In sum, the RPM would lead to the efficiency of operations and the withdrawal of the workload.

Promoting Equity in Healthcare

RPM is an equitable health care since it improves the availability of health care services to the various classes of patients. The underserved or remote rural patients will be in a location where they can receive 24/7 care, without necessarily driving long distances to receive care (Holtz et al., 2024). This will decrease the distance, transportation cost, and mobility cost. With the assistance of RPM, the enhancement of the health of various groups of people can also be implemented. They do this by carrying out periodical checkups under which they treat all the patients without caring about their locations.

This minimizes inequality in the management of illnesses and enhances improved health results. Moreover, RPM can also be flexible to the needs of the different patients. They can be developed to help in the various health literacy levels in the application and appliances. The levels of accessibility can also be enhanced with the help of language support and friendly interfaces. It is with these considerations that RPM will assist in ensuring that the service delivery element in the healthcare services will be accommodating and fair.

Organizational Readiness

The Mercy Medical Center is halfway through the implementation of the RPM technology. The company is already achieving the low technology facilities, which include electronic systems and lessened telehealth facilities. The integration of some changes can be introduced in such systems. Employee preparation is a significant aspect and element that should be put into consideration. The second minimal requirement will be the need to train the nurses and the healthcare professionals on how the RPM machines and data analysis work (Coffey et al., 2022).

Its implementation will be efficient and will need an extensive amount of training and technical support to be successful. The leadership should also be compelled to implement the resource distribution and the resource diversion that could be experienced during the implementation. The challenges which would be encountered in the implementation process can be. They involve the expenses of the equipment, resistance to change, and illiteracy among the employees since it was passed to the patients. However, the above problems can be eradicated because of the proper organization, planning, and preparation. In general, the history of the Mercy Medical Center can be applied to the RPM implementation process and the proposed changes.

Conclusion

We will also have to explain the gaps in the technology and reflection aspects of healthcare, which will be disclosed in the discussed environment in the Mercy Medical Center. The current system lacks the existence of a continuous monitoring system and real-time information, and is concerned with the patient outcomes and effectiveness of care. The answer to this dilemma will be Remote Patient monitoring (RPM), which could support the intervention and further collaboration in the long-term management. It will be in a good position to compete effectively to achieve the targeted patient outcomes and nursing, and offer fair and patient-centered care.

For the 3rd Assessment of this class visit: NURS FPX 6224 Assessment 3