Reshaping Nursing Care Through Digital Innovations
One consequence of COVID -19 has been the rapid acceleration of digital health innovations which are transforming health care. At the School of Nursing, we have been actively engaged in digital innovations in teaching and learning and through a range of research endeavours which aim to reshape nursing care. I have been very impressed with the creativity and ingenuity of our staff as they grappled with improving outcomes for students and patients over this difficult time. COVID-19 has shown us that new ideas can emerge as problems are confronted and adversities overcome, with resulting long term benefits for the community.
Digital innovations in teaching and learning include the advances the School of Nursing has made in high fidelity simulation teaching, immersive virtual reality and the use of robots. These advances have enabled our students to practice and improve their clinical reasoning and problem-solving skills. A virtual simulation was developed for the teaching and assessment of clinical scenarios which won the HKU Teaching Innovation Award for 2020.
The School of Nursing has also adopted digital innovations in research which will have a major impact upon the health and well-being of patients, carers, and society. These include research using gamification, artificial intelligence, chatbot, Zoom sessions and app development in the fields of health promotion and disease management.
One ground-breaking study with great potential used digital game technology to modify risky behaviours among adolescents. Gamification is widely used by adolescents and young adults but is not normally associated with health promotion.
Another study drew upon the emerging technology of chatbot which is powered by artificial intelligence to simulate human conversations and can provide personalised risk information. The researchers found this technology provided tangible support for stopping smoking.
A novel new baby care app, providing timely support and useful information to mothers to sustain breast feeding, won the Faculty Knowledge Exchange Award 2021. Another app was designed to support prevention of diabetes mellitus.
A Zoom based program delivered interactively enabled bi-weekly mindfulness yoga classes for patients with Parkinson’s disease.
An app with interactive videos was developed to monitor symptoms, alert nurses to intervene, and support heart failure patients to manage their illness following their discharge from hospital. Another app was designed to support patients’ self-care through an internet based cardiac rehabilitation intervention for patients suffering from coronary artery disease, while an additional app was designed to support self-care following stroke.
The digital innovations undertaken by our staff demonstrate the impact nursing interventions using these modalities can have upon patients, caregivers and society. However, we need to recognise there are some downsides to advances in digital health. I think the loss of human touch and human voice are key disadvantages. The comfort provided through these means is fundamental to excellent nursing practice and we must ensure they remain central to our mission. Digitalisation also carries with it the danger of increasing health disparities as populations unable to access these modalities are less likely to receive optimal care.
However, the next generation of nurses will be equipped with both the technologies and the professional approach to enable further innovations aimed at addressing fundamental concerns of nursing practice. They will have the knowledge and skills to bring a nursing voice in their work in teams developing digital technology further. They will be able to undertake research exploring the impact of digital health interventions on both individuals and systems of health care and examine means of better supporting underserved communities.
Today we live in an age of transformational change in health care which in many ways has been accelerated by the challenges posed by COVID -19. At the HKU School of Nursing, our teachers and researchers have demonstrated they are at the forefront of this revolution.