The nursing industry is changing rapidly in America.
The healthcare industry is coping with the aging patient population with
increasingly complex insurance procedures, loopholes and adjustments, along
with healthcare reform. There are many changes that have been made and are
expected to be made over the next 10 years, and nurses will play a major role
in meeting them.
It is expected in the future that nurses may see a
patient, check vital signs, and a preliminary check, then bring a doctor in via
video-conference. The patient would actually only have a physical meeting with
the nurse, and then have a very short video meeting with a physician.
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Future nursing roles
There is expected to be more and more nurse lines in
the future. In the years to come, insurance companies may require a patient to
call in, speak with the nurse, and get an approval code to actually visit a
medical clinic. Essentially nurses would serve as the determining body behind
whether or not a patient is sick enough to be seen by a physician. Nurses
currently learn operating procedures of new equipment on a regular basis, and
that is anticipated to increase in the future as new medical advances are made.
It is anticipated that the demand for nurses working in the clinical trial area
will increase by at least 30%. Future clinical trials may be conducted by using
an implanted microchip into the participant, and it may be the role of nurses
to monitor all patients. The good news is this may make animal testing
obsolete, and could improve cancer care.
Nurses and the operating room
On April, 2016 a physician performed the first
operation using a virtual-reality camera at Royal London Hospital. Everyone was
able to participate in the operation in real time through the medical realities
website. As this may be the way of the future, it is anticipated nurses will
participate more in the operating room with a role in explaining exactly what
the physician is doing to observers. Robots will also begin to play more of a
role in medicine and nurses will expand their versatility to programming and
training robots in some means of patient care. Fear not, there will still be
physical nurses at the patient’s bedside and that will never change. The robots
would be used to carry supplies and retrieve medications essentially serving as
an assistant to the nurse.
Wearable devices
Nurses may be trained to monitor devices that will
attach to a patient, generally on their shoulder it will be the role of a nurse
to monitor equipment each day virtually, and record all information to submit
to the physician. In most cases, it’s expected that the nurse will gather
information then separate into a critical, noncritical status. This will also
be considered real-time data, and as a nurse reads reports and notices the
patient’s blood pressures elevating beyond the normal range for any length of
time, they would alert the patient and the patient’s physician.
Human Genomics
This particular area of nursing will most likely face a
shortage of nurses. Some schools are
starting to teach extra classes in the new and up and coming field to help meet
future nursing demands. The mapping of
the human genes will expand the world of medicine as we know it today, and
nurses will be involved every step of the way working with both physicians and
scientist. As patients participate in
genetic trials, nurses will be providing the care and collecting the data,
actually changing the course of medicine.
Education
With online courses becoming ever
increasing in popularity, many nursing students will take classes from
home. This may shorten the time it takes
to earn a nursing degree, although certain classes will still be conducted at a
school. The length of schooling may
depend on demographics, as larger communities will offer more on site classroom
time. For potential nurses that may be
facing financial challenges, the next 10-15 years would be a good time to rely
on nursing grants and scholarships.
Some hospitals may help cover tuition costs with a contract of a year or
more employment. LPN’s may find that
it's a great time to continue education if that is a goal, tuition
reimbursement is often offered for current employees.
Medical advancements are a fact of life, and the more
seminars, and trainings that nurses are willing to attend, the more job
possibilities there will be. Every new
medical breakthrough is to benefit patients in some form, and every dedicated
nurse appreciates that.
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