NURS FPX 6109 Assessment 1 Educational Technology Needs Assessment
University:
Capella University
NURS FPX 6109 Assessment 1 Educational Technology Needs Assessment
Paper Instructions
Conduct an educational technology needs assessment for your current workplace setting or another health care setting you are familiar with and interested in. Document the results of your needs assessment in a 3-5 page report.
Introduction
Note Each assessment in this course builds upon the work you have completed in previous assessments. Therefore, complete the assessments in the order in which they are presented.
As thoughtful stewards of organizational resources, nurse educators must be able to determine whether new educational technology, upgrades to existing technology, or changes in current technology use will help to close performance gaps, improve patient outcomes, and yield measurable benefits for nursing staff and the organization at large. A comprehensive needs assessment distinguishes needs from wants, compares the current state with the desired state, and enables sound decision making.
This assessment provides an opportunity for you to assess the need for changes in existing educational technology, or the current use of that technology, to improve nursing education in a setting of your choice.
Note Complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.
Preparation
Workplace Setting and Educational Context
You may choose your current workplace setting or another health care setting you are familiar with and interested in as the context for this assessment and all subsequent assessments. Also, in your selected setting, choose the educational context within which the technology is being used:
- Academic.
- Clinical (on the job).
- Continuing professional education.
As you work through each assessment in this course, imagine yourself as the director of nursing education or fulfilling a similar role in your organization. In your capacity as director, you are aware that several organizational training initiatives and ongoing educational programs have not met expectations. You suspect that part of the reason for this can be attributed to the ineffective use of existing educational technologies, and in some cases, the lack of appropriate tools and technology.
Consequently, you have decided to conduct a needs assessment to determine what changes in existing technologies, or their use, you might propose to executive leaders that would have a positive impact on current nursing processes, staff performance, and patient outcomes.
To prepare for the assessment, you are encouraged to reflect on how educational technologies, such as simulation equipment, e-learning, and remote communication technologies, are used to support nursing education or training programs you are familiar with. Then, consider the effectiveness of these technologies and whether new or upgraded technologies, or changes in current use, might help close performance gaps and improve patient outcomes. In addition, you may wish to review the assessment requirements and scoring guide to ensure you understand the work you will be asked to complete.
Vila Health is a virtual environment that simulates a real-world health care system. In the various Vila Health challenges, you will apply professional strategies, practice skills, and build competencies that you can apply to your coursework and in your career. The information you gather in this challenge will help you to complete the assessment.
Requirements
- Conduct an educational technology needs assessment.
Note If you have not already done so, complete the Vila Health Educational Technology Needs Assessment challenge.
The needs assessment requirements, outlined below, correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide, so be sure to address each point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed. In addition, be sure to note the requirements below for document format and length and for citing supporting evidence.
- Describe how nurses are currently using educational technology within the setting and educational context you have chosen for this assessment.
- What information is lacking that would provide you with a more complete or accurate description of current usage?
- Is your description based on any particular assumptions?
Compare the current state of educational technology use with the desired state (best practices in nursing education).
Choose any analysis methodology that you are familiar with and comfortable using. For example:
- Gap analysis.
- SWOT or TOWS analysis.
Appreciative inquiry (discover and dream steps).
Address the following:
- What, if any, changes are needed in how nurses currently use the existing technology?
- Is there a need for a new technology solution?
- On what do you base your conclusions?
Assess the metrics used to determine the benefits of current educational technology use.
- Are the metrics sufficient for the intended purpose?
- What are the best practices that could help improve the quality, interpretation, and use of the data?
Explain how new or existing educational technology aligns with the strategic mission of the organization. If needed, locate a public statement of the organization’s mission.
Recommend changes to existing educational technology, or current use of the technology, that will improve nursing education.
- How will your recommendations result in improvements in nursing education?
- What evidence do you have to support your conclusions and recommendations?
Support assertions, arguments, propositions, and conclusions with relevant and credible evidence.
- Is your supporting evidence clear and explicit?
- How or why does particular evidence support a claim?
- Will your reader see the connection?
- Did you summarize, paraphrase, and quote your sources appropriately?
Write clearly and concisely in a logically coherent and appropriate form and style.
- Write with a specific purpose and audience in mind.
- Adhere to scholarly and disciplinary writing standards and APA formatting requirements.
Document Format and Length
- Format your needs assessment using current APA style.
Use the APA Style Paper Tutorial to help you in writing and formatting your needs assessment. Be sure to include:
- A title page and references page. An abstract is not required.
- A running head on all pages.
- Appropriate section headings.
- Your needs assessment should be 3-5 pages in length, not including the title page and references page.
Supporting Evidence
- Cite at least three credible sources from peer-reviewed journals or professional industry publications to support your needs assessment.
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Sample Answer
Concerns about diseases affecting populations and the ever-demanded quality of treatment have been a point of discussion within the realm of healthcare. This issue has drawn the attention of most stakeholders, who have tried to solve the problem using numerous methods. While various measures have been applied, such as technological solutions, some of these issues still persist, raising a concern (Padilha et al., 2019). One of these issues is educational technology. Educational technology has been known to impact patients positively and result in the desired health outcome. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to describe how virtual reality technology affects education technology at St. Anthony Medical Center.
Current use of Educational Technology
The use of technology and technology training has been the center of focus of improvement at St. Anthony Medical Center. The stakeholders of the organization have supported these levels of advancements because they support the mission of improving the general quality of care delivery. Electronic health records (EHRs) and prescription systems are some of the major basic technological educations given to all nurses (Chen et al., 2020). These technologies have significantly reduced medication errors and improved general communication among professionals. The quality of the organization has relied on this technology as they have been effective and efficient in attending to many patients with the desired quality.
Teamwork and medication errors are among the most common problems affecting patient care. Even though no uniform definition has been used to describe the problem, it may refer to a preventable even having the potential of resulting in patient harm or inappropriate medication used while a consumer, patient, or healthcare professional is handling the medication (Chen et al., 2020). The increased application of technology has been important in defining these problems and reducing them effectively in various departments at the clinic. Therefore, the success of these technologies at the clinic is a sign that the application of other better technological upgrades would even increase the quality of healthcare delivery.
Lacking Information
Despite the improved technological education of basic technologies such as EHRs and electronic prescriptions, issues in the surgical unit have not been addressed effectively. Nurses working in the surgical units still face various human error-related problems, a sign that they have inadequate training on undertaking their roles at the unit effectively. While the unit has been receiving increased demand for patients at surgical units, nurses need top-notch technological training that would improve their skills (Chen et al., 2020). The skills and perfection needed in the surgical unit need to start from the levels of training given to the new and existing nurses at the unit. The quality delivered in the surgical units would heighten the overall quality at the clinic, giving it a better review from the public domain. Therefore, the current application of VR technology in training OR nurses should be applied at St. Anthony Medical Center to solve these rising poor patient outcomes at the unit.
Comparison of the Current Technology Use and the Desired Use.
The current technology at St. Anthony Medical Center has been effective in training healthcare workers on the need to meet the demanded quality at the clinic. The RNs at the clinic have shown improved ways in how they handle patient information and care. This emanates from the improved training with the technology on sight, where these nurses interact with the technology daily and thus can apply it in attending to the patients (Kyaw et al., 2019). This vigorous application of modern technology at the clinic proves that the application of other sophisticated technology at the clinic would show a positive impact on patient outcomes.
The gap analysis carried out at the clinic has shown that St. Anthony Medical Center needs to delve more into other technology that would heighten nurse skills in the surgical units. OR nurses are skilled in the overall role dispensation at the nursing unit. However, they need additional virtual reality technology training to undertake their duties effectively (Dermody et al., 2020). Identifying veins and other complex regions in the operation room is much more effective when a nurse has already learned the process using augmented virtual reality. The technology provides virtual simulation of the patient body allowing nurses to carry out surgeries successfully.
New technological Solution
The education technology required in the surgery unit at the clinic is augmented virtual reality. Training nurses using this technology is one of the current applications that top-performing clinics use on their nurses. This implies that the clinic would fit its nurses with the international standards of care delivery. This technology creates a three-dimensional world giving the users a sense of spatial presence. This technology has been significant in nursing, especially in optimizing the teaching and learning process for OR nurses (Kyaw et al., 2019). As a result, organizations have reduced errors in surgery rooms and increased the number of patients surviving their surgical operations. Therefore, the results obtained from applying this new technology in training OR nurses would effectively improve knowledge in nursing education and raise satisfaction and confidence among patients.
Metrics on Assessing Benefits of Educational Technology Use
The benefits of the new technology will be assessed through various metrics. For instance, a reduction in the errors recorded at the surgical unit would be an evident sign that nurses at the unit have improved skills in handling patients. Again, the reduction of the mortality rates would also prove that the unit performs its functions with the utmost skills that aim to save the lives of patients (Padilha et al., 2019). Therefore, training nurses using VR technology would heighten job satisfaction in the unit and improve safety and service delivery quality. In a broader view, the technology will reduce the cost of medication as patients would solve their healthcare problems through a single surgery done at the quality level and with the desired professionals.
How the New Technology Aligns with the Mission of the Organization
The mission of St. Anthony Medical Center can be summarized as improving quality and safety and lowering the cost of treatment. These three main missions can be achieved by applying VR technology in training nurses. One of the primary ways of solving quality and safety issues in a clinic is by addressing the skills of healthcare workers. Investing in adequate training of nurses using the most recent technology would impact patient outcomes positively. In this discussion, using VR technology in training OR nurses equips them with practical skills they can apply in the surgery rooms (Padilha et al., 2019). This level of training also equips them with a wide knowledge of their role in ensuring safety and quality of care. On the other hand, improved care in the surgical units would reduce the number of patients readmitted to the clinic with the same problem hence saving many patients on the cost of treatment. Therefore, adding VR technology to the current existing technologies at St. Anthony Medical Center is a positive move towards meeting the desired goals at the clinic.
Conclusions
St. Anthony Medical Center has performed efficiently in the primary application of basic technology that supports quality at a clinic. The gap analysis also cites the need to equip OR nurses with modern technology skills to improve their clinic work. Therefore, the application of VR technology in training OR nurses is one of the most effective measures that would address the current education technology needs at the clinic.
References
- Chen, F. Q., Leng, Y. F., Ge, J. F., Wang, D. W., Li, C., Chen, B., & Sun, Z. L. (2020). Effectiveness of virtual reality in nursing education Meta-analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(9), e18290. https //doi.org/10.2196%2F18290
- Dermody, G., Whitehead, L., Wilson, G., & Glass, C. (2020). The role of virtual reality in improving health outcomes for community-dwelling older adults systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(6), e17331. https //doi.org/10.2196/17331
- Kyaw, B. M., Saxena, N., Posadzki, P., Vseteckova, J., Nikolaou, C. K., George, P. P., … & Car, L. T. (2019). Virtual reality for health professions education systematic review and meta-analysis by the digital health education collaboration. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(1), e12959. https //doi.org/10.2196/12959
- Padilha, J. M., Machado, P. P., Ribeiro, A., Ramos, J., & Costa, P. (2019). Clinical virtual simulation in nursing education randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(3), e11529. https //doi.org/10.2196/11529
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