A Look at the Direction of Nursing Careers
What is the future of nursing careers? Predictions are that in 10 or 20 years, it will look nothing like it does today! With new technologies and drugs, changes in insurance and health care policies, and the shortage in nurses, the profession will have to reinvest itself. Many nursing functions will be automated. For example, documentation and updating patient records, smart beds to monitor vital signs, bar codes, and automatic medicine carts could reduce the time and errors in dispensing medications, and voice-activated technology would eliminate the need to constantly write things down. Other nursing task such as serving meals will be taken over by aides. This would give nurses more time to provide a human touch to their patients.