Compassion Meets the Computer Age Research Proposal

At its most extreme, the type of technology that is most distancing is the type of automated voice phone system that is the first point of contact for many patients between themselves and their insurance companies. I have witnessed patients waiting to discover if a procedure is covered, if a doctor is in-network, or an answer as to what laboratory their blood work should be sent. Other technologies, like electronic recordkeeping can be helpful, but can also distance the nurse from the patient if it is used as a substitute for thorough face-to-face interviews. And some technologies can bring nurse and patient closer together, like those that facilitate efficiency or enable the patient to contact a healthcare provider while being cared for at home.

One of the reasons I have chosen a career in nursing is that I do not feel comfortable making a living behind a computer, and not doing hands-on work of consequence. Nurses must be careful not to behave as if compassion can be outsourced, given that so much of modern life, from cell phones to the Internet, creates such an impression.Even during the best of circumstances, a great deal of intimacy in modern life has ebbed away. When patients are in difficult circumstances, compassion and a truly open ear and heart are all the more important. Their contact with their nurse may be the only chance patients receive to truly reflect about the nature of their illness.

Enhancing what Jean Watson called carative factors is essential. Appraising the patient's environment, understanding his or her role and position in the family, evaluating the family's ability to inhibit or enhance care -- all of these require skilled nursing and empirical observation. Faith and hope in the medical system and the future require the creation of a human bond, even though the nurse's knowledge and care-giving capabilities can be enhanced by technology.

Works Cited

Simpson, Roy. (2001, January). "Compassion meets the computer….....