IT has the capability to change work processes, communications, and the point-of-care for nurses. Acceptance and use of IT by nurses is dependent on personal technical skills, workplace culture, and the perceived benefit of the new system. In addition to technology changing nursing practices, nursing practices should also shape IT development. (Courtney, Demiris & Alexander 2005) For IT to enhance the process of care delivery and prove to be an empowering tool for the nursing profession, nurses as end users have to be involved in the early phases of system design.
It is a widely accepted notion that user participation in the design and development of information systems increases the likelihood of successful implementation and utilization of these systems. (Courtney, Demiris & Alexander 2005) Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, nursing informatics and computer technology are part of our everyday professional activities. (Saba & Saba 2001) One goal of nursing is to harness technology to improve clinical nursing practice as well as to enhance the quality of patient care. The majority of all nurses are computer literate, and computers are found in all areas where nurses function.
Because of the advances in computer technology, a greater quantity of data are being collected and, with meta-analysis of the data, advances in nursing knowledge are occurring. (Saba & Saba 2001) Today’s applications and tools are so numerous and varied that few nurses are experts in all areas of informatics. Saba & McCormick solicited over 30 different experts in nursing informatics to contribute to the third edition of their publication: Essentials of Computers for Nurses: Informatics in the Next Millennium (2001) (Saba & McCormick 2001).
Informatics, or computer technology, regardless of what it is called, will be getting bigger and better and will become capable of processing data more quickly than even the great speed at which it does now. Naisbitt (1982) forecasts that the communication technologies of telephone, computer and television will be integrated and include multimedia information and data transmission systems. According to Bill Gates, ‘the best is yet to come’. (Saba & Saba 2001) Furthermore, quantum information processing, consisting of a 10-bit quantum computer, will appear (Skiba et al.
2000). Quantum computing means that a computer can process multiple operations simultaneously instead of sequentially. Such technological advances in computer processing speeds will facilitate access to applications and provide faster searching, analysis and manipulation of information. This means that networks of knowledge will be created which link atomic-level data concepts to one another and develop inferences spawning new theories, hypotheses and images based on the new vocabularies and ultimately new evidenced-based practice.
(Saba & Saba 2001) Imaging and genetic mapping will be possible. (Saba & Saba 2001) Genome biochemical codes will be used to treat diseases. The three billion bits of genetic code with no punctuation marks that make up each genome of the human body will be used to revolutionize medical care. This breakthrough means that there will be a shift from treating diseases to preventing disease and from treating acute illnesses to treating chronic illnesses.