Nurses have always been an integral component of healthcare transformations since the establishment of this profession. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, RNs have remained active in furthering many innovations in the medical industry that have drastically reshaped the future of healthcare. Globally, RNs provide better healthcare facilities to patients and improve policies affecting everyday citizens’ health. With nursing being voted the most reliable occupation for the 19th year in a row, we expect our country’s primary caregivers to continue influencing positive changes in global medicine. So, which changes have nurses introduced in the healthcare industry globally? Let’s discuss this.
Healthcare transformations and our country’s nurses
How shall medical science look in the next ten years? In 2019, BLS revealed that RNs constituted 30% of hospital employees throughout the country. Expected to grow by 7% in this decade, there are over 4 million nurses in the USA right now. Earning over $70,000 annually on average, these healthcare practitioners actively incorporate tech in the healthcare industry.Speculations envision an age where cancer’s cured and robots have replaced human surgeons. Nurses are the primary drivers of the massive acceptance of these changes in our clinics/hospitals. Without RNs, these digital innovations will fail to deliver the results inventors expected. Here’s how nurses contribute to our medical future:
1.Distance learning prevails:-
In the future, educational requirements for nurses will become advanced. However, distance learning options enable RNs to improve academic qualifications without interrupting their busy routines. Many professionals are acquiring advanced degrees in nursing digitally today. Pursuing a DNP online opens several pathways of career advancement for nurses. It enables you to deliver care to patients more effectively while honing your leadership qualities to improve the profession of nursing.
2.More leadership options:-
These e-learning opportunities also enable nurses to develop their leadership capabilities and strive to improve this profession. We’ve seen how nursing leaders advocated providing the required PPE for RNs to prevent deaths among healthcare providers. Pursuing advanced degrees allows nurses to adopt titles of nurse managers, executives, and administrators. The shortage of nurses will motivate more RNs to hone their managerial skills and effectively meet patients’ growing needs.
3.Domestic care delivery:-
With technological advancements, providing medical assistance to patients in the home has become possible. We now have smart devices such as “fall mats” to inform caregivers when residents suffer accidents. As wearables become widespread in the health sector, nurses must improve their digital abilities to deliver care domestically. Many senior citizens will prefer receiving clinical services at home instead of a hospital to reduce the risk of catching the coronavirus or other maladies.
4.An inclusive workforce:-
In the past, many ethnic and gender-based stereotypes defined the nursing profession. However, we can observe from recent trends how nursing’s slowly becoming a more inclusive workforce. In 1930, men accounted for only 2% of American RNs, but this number reached 9% in 2016. Similarly, 70% of nurses aged 70+ were white, but 65% of RNs aged 40% belonged to the Caucasian race. It shows that diversity has become normal among younger nurses, and this trend will continue in the future.
5.Speaking in tongues:-
Cultural barriers prevent many patients from communicating effectively with their care providers. But the trend of diversity has encouraged more nurses to become bilingual to understand patients and realize their ethnic/cultural sensitivities. Statistics show that almost 60 million Americans speak Spanish, many of whom can’t communicate in English at all. So, bilingual nurses are essential assets to our hospitals – especially when Hispanics are more vulnerable to the COVID pandemic.
6.Flexible working arrangements:-
After the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, many nurses adopted flexible working schedules to create a work-life balance. These non-traditional arrangements let RNs find working patterns that fit their lifestyles. It’s revolutionized the healthcare institution where more professionals are opting for flexible routines. This strategy prevents cases of burnout among healthcare practitioners while improving the engagement of our doctors/nurses and potentially becoming a norm in the future.
7.Incorporation of informatics:-
During this pandemic, we observed health informatics becoming more popular in clinics/hospitals. This technology involves collecting a patient’s data and analyzing it to make better decisions about their well-being. There are already examples such as electronic health records that allow nurses to communicate patient information and coordinate care delivery. RNs are also engaging in the development of evidence-based practices to improve patient care.
8.Helping the seniors:-
Experts suggest that one-fifth of our country’s population will be 65 or older years of age by 2025. It was merely 12% at the beginning of the century! Sadly, less than 1% of nurses have specialization in geriatrics, but this trend’s now changing. More RNs are registering in elderly caregiving to help the increasing older population of the USA. Today, many senior citizens rely on the care delivery offered by nurses. Being more vulnerable to the coronavirus, the elderly require intensive care provided to them by RNs.
9.Telehealth shall dominate:-
Nurses have also contributed to the massive acceptance of patient portals in hospitals that provide patients safe access to doctors 24/7. Several features of these digital services enable patients to ask questions remotely and make appointments with a doctor. This technology allows caregivers to see their patients without physical proximity to them, thus reducing infections. RNs can send/receive regarding patients with the swipe of a finger, for which they must be tech-savvy.
10.Different specializations emerge:-
With advanced education, several specializations have also emerged for nurses to bolster their skills and become multi-talented in many fields. Working with them directly/indirectly, learning such skills helps RNs provide better care delivery to patients. These specializations include the following:
- Charge Nurse
- Case Manager
- Nurse Educator
- Infection Control
- Quality Control Officer
Conclusion
The future of healthcare depends on certain factors that involve the universal acceptance of technology furthered by healthcare practitioners. As the pandemic persists, telehealth and telemedicine become norms in modern-day practice medicine. Nurses play a crucial role in advocating for the implementation of these innovations in clinics/hospitals. As leaders, they advocate on behalf of patients and support policies that benefit the general public. As educators, they empower patients by teaching them about wearables and related medical procedures. In the future, more youngsters will join the RN workforce and contribute to an increasing diversity that’ll help the underprivileged classes of the USA.