Can nurses remain relevant in a technologically advanced future?

Technological breakthroughs occur at an ever-increasing rate thereby revolutionizing human health and wellness care. Technological advancements have drastically changed the structure and organization of the healthcare industry. McKinsey Global Institute estimates that 800 million workers worldwide could be replaced by robots by the year 2030. There is already a robotic revolution happening in healthcare wherein robots have made tasks and procedures more efficient and safer. Locsin and Ito has addressed the threat to nursing practice with human nurses being replaced by humanoid robots. Routine nursing care dictated solely by prescribed procedures and accomplishment of nursing tasks would be best performed by machines. With the future practice of nursing in a technologically advanced future transcending the implementation of nursing actions to achieve predictable outcomes, how can human nurses remain relevant as practitioners of nursing? Nurses should be involved in deciding which aspects of their practice can be delegated to technology. Nurses should oversee the introduction of automated technology and artificial intelligence ensuring their practice to be more about the universal aspects of human care continuing under a novel system. Nursing education and nursing research will change to encompass a differentiated demand for professional nursing practice with, and not for, robots in healthcare

The Lived Experience of Discontinuing Hormonal Contraception Among Women in Rural Uganda

The purpose of the study was to describe the experience of discontinuing hormonal contraceptive use among women in rural Uganda. A significant number of women in Uganda discontinue hormonal contraception even though such method has been effective. Consequently, these women have unprotected sex, although not wanting to conceive. Narrative descriptions of the experiences by eight women were analyzed using content analysis. The findings describe the experience as Frustration and Helplessness, Living in Fear of Uncertainty, Ingenuity of using other methods of contraception, thus fostering the Accomplishments of being a wife, mother, and woman. Implications for nursing practice, research, and education are described

The Co-Existence of Technology and Caring in the Theory of Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing

The coexistence of technology and caring is best exemplified in nursing. The theory of Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing illuminates this coexistence as the essence of technology in health care premised on machine technologies as a generic concept of objects or things that are mechanical, organic, and electronic. With its timely development these technologies are continually imbued with artificial general intelligence. As such, the ultimate expression of machine technologies in nursing turns out to be autonomous robots (ARs) with future potentials of functions comparable to human persons. While theory-based nursing practice is essential to nursing care practice, quality human care, particularly with technologies assuming indispensable practice process mechanisms is critical. Some practice-based questions informing ARs and human person engagements in nursing care practice include, “Will ARs which are imbued with artificial intelligence replace nurses in their practice?” “What contributions to quality human health care will autonomous and artificially intelligent robots provide?” While these questions may reflect far-reaching ramifications of technologies in health care, it must also be acknowledged that these technologies are fundamental to the delivery of quality human health care now, and in the future

Theory-Based Nursing Practice in the World of Anthropomorphic Intelligent Machines

How will human nurses practice nursing with advancing technologies particularly involving anthropomorphic intelligent machines? Nursing as an expression of caring in nursing is oftentimes appreciated as acts of endearment or TLC (Tender loving care) by nurses towards persons who are in situations craving for human-to-human contact. Such situations often define nursing as demanding for nurses’ emotion. However, if feelings or emotions is the criterion that makes the ‘caring’ live meaningfully in nursing situations, in the future, how will caring be expressed when nursing engagements in practice will be primarily with anthropomorphic intelligent machines? Contemporary understandings of ‘humanness’ may be obsolete and human-to-human contact as we know it today may consequently remain imaginary. The realities of nursing care perpetuate increasing dependence on technology, and interactions between persons and intelligent machines will need to be redefined. The theory of Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing provides dynamic nursing process events in which technological knowing, mutual designing and participative engaging encompass theory-based nursing thereby furthering quality nursing care outcomes as the foundational rationale for engagements in theory-based nursing practice with anthropomorphic intelligent machines

The Theory of Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing : Guiding Nursing and Health Care

The purpose of this paper is to describe nursing practice as guided by the theory of Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing（TCCN）. In the past, nurses practiced nursing based on medical knowledge and skillful techniques. Today, derived from nursing science, professional nursing is founded on nursing knowledge and its practice ought to be based on theories of nursing. Within the TCCN theory, nursing is a dynamic engagement between the nurse and the patient, occurring ina technological encounter within the universal technological domain. The process of knowing persons as nursing practice is illustrated as technological knowing, mutual designing and participative engaging. Through the theory of TCCN, nursing is designed as caring in which both the nurse and patient actively participate in his/her care rather than the nurse consigning the patient simply as objects or recipients of care. The theory clearly explains and illuminates the interface between science, technology, nursing practice, and human caring. Nursing as a practice based on theory is useful in enhancing the quality of life of persons

The implementation of the Japanese Dental English core curriculum : active learning based on peer-teaching and learning activities

Background: Education in Japan and other Asian countries advocates the stereotypical passive learning style where students are limited in their breadth of knowledge dismissing anything not imparted by their teachers. With globalized education, professions are becoming very competitive, embracing student-centeredness compelling them to introduce active learning activities. A study funded by Japan’s Ministry of Education conducted a needs analysis, proposed a solution, and implemented an active learning approach. Since the latter is still new in the Japanese teaching-learning environment, this current study aimed at assessing the willingness of undergraduate students of dental medicine to participate in active learning activities rather than the typical passive-style teaching-learning educational process. Methods: Three active implementation-learning activities, namely International Group Discussions (IGD), Student-Teacher Experience (STE) and Role Play Activities (RPA) were included in the Dental English course in a classroom setting at a dental school in Japan. Students had to choose between participating in the activity or taking the final examination. Two hundred and three third-year undergraduate dental students participated over a 5-year period from October 2013 to March 2017. For IGD, the researchers assigned students to a topic and grouped them with visiting international exchange students. For STE, researchers gave students teacher-prepared presentation slides on basic dental topics, which they presented in front of their classmates. For RPA, students had to do prepared role-play and impromptu role play. Peer and teacher feedbacks of the activities were given to all students. At the end of the course, the students evaluated the active learning activities and wrote their comments in a free entry survey. Results: All 203 students participated in the active learning activities confirming the changing learning needs of Japanese students in this dental school. The most common comment was that the class was interesting, fun, an easy-to-understand way to learn dental terms, and a safe way to express themselves in the English language. Conclusion: The majority of Japanese students preferred the active learning style. The study revealed that students reported greater engagement and better learning with proper guidance and time to prepare for the activities

The lived experience of family caregivers caring for patients dependent on life-sustaining technologies

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the meaning of the lived experience of family caregivers caring for their loved ones who were dependent upon life-sustaining technologies while in the hospital. Methods: This study followed van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach to generate and analyze data to describe the experience of ten family caregivers who met the following inclusion criteria: a family member who participated actively in caring for the loved one who was dependent upon technologies for human care. Data were collected using individual in-depth interviews. The interview transcriptions were analyzed using van Manen's phenomenological approach, while Lincoln and Guba's criteria were used to establish trustworthiness of the study. Findings: Four thematic categories structured the meaning of the experience: Being an invisible person; supporting patients' wholeness; struggling to trust technologies for human care; and living in uncertainty. These thematic categories were reflective of Van Manen's four lived worlds of body, relation, space, and time. Conclusion: Understanding the experience of family caregivers challenges nurses to express their technological competencies in caring more fully in their human care. Locsin's theory of Technological Competency as Caring in Nursing was used to explain and describe the meaning of the experiences of family caregivers caring for patients who were dependent upon technologies for human care, and foster nursing practice as caring in nursing

Reflections on International Nurses Day : Current status, issues, and the future of nursing in Indonesia

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EMANCIPATION THROUGH NURSING WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF HEALTH DISPARITIES

Background: Health disparity can be observed using the lens of emancipation through nursing. Objective: This paper aims to describe the concept of emancipation through nursing, situate its position within the theory of ’Emancipation through Nursing,’ and illuminate the implications of caring within the context of health disparity. Methods: The sequential process of Rodgers’ Evolutionary Concept Analysis and Chinn and Kramer’s Process of Theory Construction were applied. Review of the literature utilizing six major databases was conducted using the keywords ‘emancipation’ or ‘empowerment’ and ‘health disparity’ and ‘nursing’ and with year restrictions from 2000-2017. Results: Findings revealed that the attributes of the concept of ‘emancipation through nursing’ are conscientization or critical consciousness, correct and adequate health information, co-construction of a creative process for health service, and collective action. These attributes were preceded by the following antecedents: marginalization, hegemony, the oppressed and the emancipator, centering, and liberation. The resulting features of enlightenment, enervation, empowerment, and evolvement served as constructs that collectively structured the theory of Emancipation through Nursing in the Context of Health Disparities. Conclusion: Nurses worldwide will benefit from descriptions and illuminations of the concepts of emancipation and nursing within the theory of Emancipation through Nursing in the Context of Health Disparities