Nursing and the Information Agenda
6 March 2012, 12:30–3:30pm
Room 5541, Howard Building, City Campus
This symposium brings together key speakers to consider
- the changing environment in which nurses work
- the role of ICT in providing better patient care
- the implications for higher education institutions offering healthcare programmes
Within the last week David Cameron, the prime minister, and health secretary Andrew Lansley announced a new drive to free up nurses to provide better patient care. The key point, made clear by Cameron, is that 'Caring for patients is what nurses do. Everything else comes second.'
Although this is encouraging from a patient perspective, the fact is that everything else still needs to be done. Nurses' working environments are increasingly information intensive, so in order to allow more time for patient care, better ways of managing information must be found.
Information and communications technologies (ICT) offer a clear solution. ICT can help determine more efficient ways of collecting and synthesising health data, ensure this information is available in a timely fashion, and also free up nurses to focus more on patient care. Add to this the emerging dimension of remote healthcare, and further opportunities are afforded when using ICT.
However, in order to derive the benefits, nurses must be equipped with the knowledge and skills to use such ICT competently. This poses new challenges for higher education institutions who are charged with developing practice-ready nurses. And this is at the same time as mounting competition in the higher education market, demand for an improved student experience, more flexible and engaging modes of study, and heightened employability.
Join us to debate how this changing environment will affect your organisation, and determine workable solutions to meet these new needs.
This event is free, but places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment.
