Beleaguered by technology: care in technologically intense environments

Abstract

Modern technology has enabled the use of new forms of information in the care of critically ill patients. In intensive care units (ICUs), technology can simultaneously reduce the lived experience of illness and magnify the objective dimensions of patient care. The aim of this study, based upon two empirical studies, is to find from a philosophical point of view a more comprehensive understanding for the dominance of technology within intensive care. Along with caring for critically ill patients, technology is part of the ICU staff's everyday life. Both technology and caring relationships are of indispensable value. Tools are useful, but technology can never replace the closeness and empathy of the human touch. It is a question of harmonizing the demands of subjectivity with objective signs. The challenge for caregivers in ICU is to know when to heighten the importance of the objective and measurable dimensions provided by technology and when to magnify the patients' lived experiences, and to live and deal with the ambiguity of the technical dimension of care and the human side of nursing.

Doing ‘technological time’ in a pediatric hemodialysis unit: An ethnography of children

“…Researchers and theorists (Almerud, Alapack, Fridlund & Ekebergh, 2008;Barnard, 2002;Barnard & Sandelowski, 2001;Bennett, 2010Bennett, , 2011Bevan, 1998Bevan, , 2000McGibbon & Peter, 2008;Poland et al, 2005;Sandelowski, 2002;Tranter et al, 2009;Wynn, 2002;Zitzelsberger, 2004) have called for more research to investigate the nature and effects of technologies in and on specific places of care. Some studies explored nurses' views (Bull & FitzGerald, 2006;Marck, 2000;McGibbon & Peter, 2008;Tranter et al, 2009) and Allen et al (2011) andNagle (1998) identified the need to investigate similarities and differences between care recipients' and providers' perspectives of technologies and their settings.…”

Biomedical approaches to care and their influence on point of care nurses: a scoping review

“…Second, Guzetta [41] narrates the trajectory of her career, while explicating previous research studies influencing patient and nurse outcomes in acute care while weaving a body-mind-spirit tapestry. Lastly, Almerud and colleagues [19] use reflection and hyper-reflection to examine two previous phenomenological oriented studies to examine a philosophical point of view in order to understand the dominance of technology for intensive care nurses within an intensive care environment.…”

“…Reviewer one raised a point for discussion in that the Almerud [19] article was not based on original research because the method of reflection-hyperreflection are based on two previously published phenomenological studies. However, after much discussion it was determined that this paper would be included in the scoping review as grey literature because it met the inclusion criteria, purpose, and objective but also, because of its relevance and contribution to scoping review.…”

“…In addition, nurses find themselves in situations where medical interventions are initiated because of medical and technology influence, rather than a wholistic approach. Almerud and colleagues [19] posit that medical advances and technology does not have to hinder patient care, because it is not the technology or equipment that guides nurses actions, rather it is how and what meaning nurses give to the equipment. Nurses have control and the ability to make decisions on how a person is cared for and nurses can choose a wholistic manner or reduce the individual to a mere object.…”

“…Nurses must also learn to explicate the meaning of space and place [18] with each clinical situation encountered they must be willing to embrace different paradigms so that they may achieve the best patient outcomes. A biomedical model and technology can never fully capture the lived experience of what it means to be ill [19] because technology can never replace the closeness and empathy of the human touch. [4,13,19,20] Therefore, to fully understand and integrate wholistic care nurses need to incorporate diverse [3] paradigms as part of their knowledge and decision-making to enhance a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship and nurse presence.…”