ICT Assignment : Ethical Issues With Using Mobiles In Hospital
Question
Assignment Description:Smart technologies are on the rise. There is a body of literature discussing the key benefits of Smart Technologies; however smart technologies also introduce many ethical issues.
- Driverless car technology has attracted significant interest in manufacturing industry over the recent years. Please identify what ethical issues arise from use of driverless cars. Will you embrace this emerging technology from ethical perspective?
- Cyberbullying has been a significant issue globally over the past few years. Cyber?technology has exacerbated this problem due to proliferation of mobile applications in the marketplace. You receive notification from a third party though one of the Apps that you use inviting you to participate in an event. You are not sure how they received your details. Discuss what security issues arise due to sharing of too much personal information on social media Apps.
- Smart phones are being used by nurses for clinical communications and workflow in hospitals. Using smart phones to record patient data introduces ethical issues involving patient privacy. Identify what privacy risks arise in such a context and explain the risks in detail.
- Technologies such as google glass and smart watches are coming into workplace. Given the intrusive natures of these technologies it is easy for employees to take video or photographs of other people at work and share it with others. What ethical issues arise from use of wearable technologies in workplace?
- There are many apps available for download for consumers (for example, health monitoring, booking taxi, banking apps). While these Apps are user friendly and improve user experience, there is also a security concern that hackers can use some loopholes in such apps to modify or delete customer information. Discuss an App that you have used recently and if there have been privacy breaches? Is it ethical for companies to introduce Apps with only basic level of security?
Answer
1.0 Introduction:
In this ICT Assignment we have discussed the Ethical issues arising from use of ICT technologies. The term ‘ethics’ can be described as the moral principles that tend to define an individual’s characteristics and behaviour or conducting any particular activity. The modern society is seemed to be facing ethical issues in various spheres of life. Ethical issues can be rightly elucidated as the conflict of rights and wrongs in any particular situation that tends to force alternatives on a specific entity that looks for ethical behaviour that is morally correct (Parahoo, 2014). This ICT Assignment is going to look into the ethical issues that arise from using mobile phones in health care organisations and hospitals by nurses in order to maintain communication facilities.
2.0 Identification
Nurses are using mobile phones in the hospitals, at their respective workplaces, to channel the smooth flow of clinical communication that helps in sharing information and data regarding the patients. It has many advantages, but it is considered to be an ethical issue in many respects. Firstly, when the nurses are using Smartphones for clinical communications, they are invariably violating the federal laws and regulations that are introduced by the hospital authorities and the American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics. Secondly, the use of phones is also resulting in not obliging to the state nurse practice acts, says the American Nurse Today. The use of Smartphone in a multidisciplinary setting helps the healthcare professionals to establish healthy communication, which further helps in improving service quality.
3.0 Analysis
The two above-mentioned practices of nurses in this ICT Assignment that allow them to use Smartphone in the hospitals are seen as significant advantages in the healthcare and nursing sector. It will enable the hospital staff to communicate well, faster, easily by just sending essential and urgent information from one nurse to the other. However, the ethical issues are highly valid, and they are required to be considered as significant law breaching practices. The American Nurse Today called the entire issue as an evolution or a revolution in one of their most prolific and highly debated articles (Americannursetoday.com, 2018). It has to be noted that the use of Smartphone by the nurses can actually result in their loss of employment at the hospitals, or could even discard their nursing license. Not abiding by the policies and laws of the hospital authorities in marinating proper privacy of the patients’ health and related reports can lead to imprisonment of the nurses and also monetary fines. One can identify that the clinical communication system can lead to the flow of information that is extremely personal to the patient (Americannursetoday.com, 2018). However, the constant use of Smartphone are allowing the nurses to even use social media and other entertainment sources on the internet, that is ethically wrong in the workplaces.
Another issue stated by the American Nurse Today is the violation of the laws about compromising thousands of essential data of patients. The abuse of the patient’s privacy is mostly dependent on the use of Smartphone for clinical purposes in most of the healthcare organisations (Ethicalissues, 2018). According to research data and records, more than 40 per cent of the American is using their Smartphone without any password. In addition, a significant number of 51 per cent of the population uses public Wi-Fi and easily connecting hotspots. It is a significant area of concern as it could easily leak the data and information to someone and create severe adverse effects on the practices of the nurses. Ponemon Institute has recently reported that most of the criminal activities in the hospitals and healthcare sectors are caused due to the use of Smartphone at workplaces. According to the institute’s records, it can be observed that the rise of criminal activities has increased 125 per cent in the past one decade (Ponemon.org, 2018). Hospitals are keen to look into this aspect and focus on resolving the issues.
4.0 Evaluation and justification
These two ethical issues discussed in this ICT Assignment above are causing life risks on an everyday basis in hospitals and healthcare organisations. Ethically these practices are wrong as using the mobile phones also distract the nurses from pursuing their respective works. Sensitive data could be leaked easily and can cause severe outcomes in killing people and sharing personal data with others (Urden, Stacy, & Lough, 2018). On a moral scale, these are not supposed to take place at any organisation under any circumstances. However, the mobile phones are treated as a boon in many cases that allow the proper and smooth flow of clinical communication in saving people’s life.
Although, it surely has its adverse effects on the breaching of laws and regulations set by legislative bodies and hospital authorities. Evaluating the ethical issues, one can quickly note that the patients are always at risk of losing their personal information and life that are caused by the nurses’ use of Smartphone. The criminal activities have risen, and that is also because of the ethical issues that are discussed and analysed in the previous section above. Hence, these issues are justified and are needed to be resolved soon with strategic management steps that allow the nurses to communicate without breaching the laws and regulatory acts. Enhancing patient’s safety and security is the only and the most critical aspect that hospitals must look into while understanding that specific merit actions can violate laws and put patients under threat that is not ethically correct under any situation.
5.0 Conclusion
The above-drafted ICT Assignment has been highly educational, and it is enriching in reflecting on the true meaning and understands of ethics and ethical issues that the world is facing in different situations. It has to be noted that the content above has looked carefully at two ethical issues of using Smartphone in hospitals by nurses in clinical communications. The problems are highly valid, and it seems to be violating many legal and social laws that tend to secure the privacy and wellbeing of patients. The ICT Assignment has been able to develop the knowledge in reflecting on the practice of using phones and also understand how it creates threats and vulnerabilities for patients as well as for hospital authorities.
Reference list
Americannursetoday.com. (2018). Americannursetoday. Retrieved Aug 27, 2018, from Evolution or revolution? Smartphone use in nursing practice: https://www.americannursetoday.com/evolution-revolution-smartphone-use-nursing-practice/
Ethicalissues. (2018). Retrieved Aug 27, 2018, from www.erm.ecs.soton.ac.uk: http://www.erm.ecs.soton.ac.uk/theme4/ethical_issues.html
Parahoo, K. (2014). Nursing research: principles, process and issues. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Ponemon.org. (2018, Aug 27). Criminal Attacks: The New Leading Cause of Data Breach in Healthcare. Retrieved Aug 27, 2018, from Ponemon.org.
Urden, L. D., Stacy, K. M., & Lough, M. E. (2018). Critical Care Nursing-E-Book: Diagnosis and Management. Elsevier Health Sciences.Urden, L. D., Stacy, K. M., & Lough, M. E. (2018). Critical Care Nursing-E-Book: Diagnosis and Management. Elsevier Health Sciences.
