Interface of Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice and Healthcare Technology

Abstract

Purpose This article demonstrates the leadership role of the clinical nurse specialist in developing and implementing healthcare technology across the continuum of care. Description Three virtual nursing practices—facilitated self-care, remote patient monitoring, and virtual acute care nursing—illustrate how the clinical nurse specialist is well suited to transform traditional practice models to ones that use healthcare technology effectively. These 3 practices use interactive healthcare technology to gather patient data and allow communication and coordination with the healthcare team to meet patient-specific needs. Outcome Use of healthcare technology in virtual nursing practices led to early care team intervention, optimized care team processes, proactive patient outreach, timely access to care, and reduction in healthcare-associated errors and near-miss events. Conclusion Clinical nurse specialists are well positioned to develop innovative, effective, accessible, and high-quality virtual nursing practices. Integrating healthcare technology with nursing practice augments care for various patients, ranging from those with low illness severity in the outpatient setting to acutely ill patients in the inpatient hospital environment.