The recent article by Harrington1 has created a dialogue about an aspect of nursing that is not usually addressed. Technology is accepted by our society as a force of positive change that should be embraced, and in certain situations technology can reduce the workload of nurses. To provide the best care to patients, nurses must be aware of the possible drawbacks of advances in technology.
To combat any potential errors in automated procedures, nurses should be competent in all manual steps of procedures to ensure patient safety in case a malfunction occurs. Not all automated procedures present a risk to the patient, but to provide best practice the nurse should be adequately trained in how to handle minor technology malfunctions. The time required for such education is a small drawback compared to the time-saving benefits of automation.
As a nursing student, I am concerned with the automation of procedures....
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