Of five emerging technologies used by nurses to help control infectious diseases, the Internet of Things is the most promising, according to a scoping review conducted at Aix-Marseille University in France and published March 25 in Nursing Open.
The reviewers base the assertion on the IoT’s validation in more scientific studies than any of the other contenders—AI, information and communications technology, simulation technology and e-learning.
Senior author Sophia Boudjema, PhD, MSc, RN, and colleagues systematically searched PubMed and five other journal databases, whittling the results to 77 optimally relevant articles from 23 countries.
The infection-control activities for which they found the IoT being widely deployed included hand hygiene, prediction and early detection of infection, nursing management and nursing assessment.
Meanwhile they found AI deployed for such duties as nursing decision support, hand hygiene training and dosing of drugs administered at the bedside.
Information and communications technologies were most evident in management activities, while references to simulation, including e-learning, commonly came up in nursing education.
Synopsizing these findings by categories, Boudjema and co-authors state that the IoT is “often used in assessment areas, AI in prevention and control areas, ICT in the management area and simulation and e‐learning in education. Additionally, the IoT was the most beneficial technology to improve nursing effectiveness and AI could improve nursing performance.”
In their discussion, the authors note that research into emerging technologies in nursing demands high levels of cooperation and participation from many nurses over considerable periods of time.
“These requirements were challenges in clinical practice because of workload and stress,” they comment. “User‐driven development (user‐centered design) might enhance healthcare worker acceptance and may be the core concept and challenge in future research.”
The journal has posted the study in full for free.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.