Best of both worlds: digital health and nursing together for healthier communities

Abstract

Aim This manuscript offers a set of practical recommendations to the nursing and digital health communities in order to achieve a common vision of nurses fully engaged with and leading digital health solutions for universal health coverage. Background Nurses comprise the largest occupation of health workers in the world and play a central role in efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Nevertheless, though they are essential to delivering health care, nursing voices are too often absent in the design and implementation of new technology and digital health advances. The World Health Organization recognizes digital health as a critical catalyst for advancing universal health coverage and the aims of the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, the use of digital health by nurses is globally recommended as a channel of practice to strengthen nursing services and allow practitioners to significantly improve health outcomes. Sources of Evidence Websites of the World Health Organization, United Nations, peer‐reviewed research search engines, as well as the experiences of both authors. Discussion Digital health is transforming the entirety of the healthcare provision system and these systemic changes require engagement, leadership and championing from nurses. Conclusion and Implications for Nursing Practice and Policy Both the nursing and digital health communities have much to gain from each other and can be stronger together. The authors offer a set of practical recommendations for both the nursing and digital health communities to implement to optimize mutual efforts towards achieving universal health coverage.

Digital health

“…In return, triage and practice-based nurses would have more time to focus on billable, high-value activities like nurse visits. 19 DH technology helped pave the way for advanced care at home and will continue to optimize those services.…”

“…If automated, a system like this could offset the nonreimbursable administrative burden of busy internal medicine or primary care practices who respond to these types of inquiries in person via phone, online portal, or email messages. In return, triage and practice-based nurses would have more time to focus on billable, high-value activities like nurse visits 19. DH technology helped pave the way for advanced care at home and will continue to optimize those services.…”

Challenges and needs in digital health practice and nursing education curricula: A Gap analysis study. (Preprint)

“…It is widely recognized that digital health technologies have advanced at a rate greater than education about digital health has advanced [1]. Indeed, digital health has barely been established in nursing curriculum, let alone evaluated to match what is needed in the clinical setting [2]. This is a somewhat unusual phenomenon wherein the application of a practice has happened in advance of the evidence that supports it.…”

Rethinking global digital health and AI-for-health innovation challenges

“…Mobile applications and data-driven AI can help to tackle major challenges in global health. These include provision of health care during a pandemic [1], the wider sharing of accurate health knowledge and its use to serve public health goals [2], and the more equitable delivery of health care and health innovations [3,4]. Despite their promise, AI and digital health technologies may also reinforce inequities in access to, and distribution of, health care services.…”