The digital transformation has been massive during my life and career. In middle school, I studied word processing as an elective, where I learned the 10-finger system on a typewriter. At home, we also took a digital leap when we replaced our traditional landline phone with a cordless one, with a range of about 10 meters. My friends were amazed by this phone. I still remember when the internet arrived in our household, the slowness, and the noise! And we used to go to the bank in person with our account books.
When I started working as a nurse, reports were written by hand in paper patient files. Space was limited, and handwriting varied greatly, sometimes making it difficult to decipher what was written in the report. On the other hand, all the patient information was found in one place, and with a quick glance, one could grasp the patient’s status.
Nowadays, almost all patient information is electronic, and we smoothly use various systems in our daily work. However, digitalization cannot replace everything. As a psychiatric nurse, our work with patients involves talking, observing, and working together. There are few electronic methods used directly in patient care. Hopefully, in the future, there will be good evidence-based methods for managing symptoms of illness. In my workplace, we have experimented with virtual reality using VR glasses, for example.
Data privacy matters are particularly important in the social and healthcare sector, where personal health-related information is handled. I consider cyber-attacks, which could lead to data breaches, a significant threat. Nowadays, professionals log into patient systems with their own ID cards, leaving a trace of their visits on the computer, and patients have the right to know what information is being stored about them.
Chat GPT
I asked an AI about the future vision of psychiatric nursing and requested it to summarize the vision. It replied as follows:
In the future, psychiatric care is envisioned to become more personalized, incorporating advanced technologies such as AI and virtual reality. Early intervention and prevention will be prioritized, with a holistic approach integrating mental health care with other healthcare domains. Moreover, there will be a shift in societal attitudes towards mental health, reducing stigma and encouraging openness. Community-based and peer support initiatives will also play a significant role. Ethical considerations, especially regarding privacy and data security, will be paramount as technology becomes more integrated into psychiatric care.
I also asked to specify how artificial intelligence and virtual reality could be used in psychiatric care. The answer was:
Diagnosis Support: Artificial intelligence helps identify mental health issues and provides recommendations for treatment plans to physicians.
Therapy: Virtual reality is used in therapy, such as managing anxiety, by offering controlled environments for exposure therapy.
Self-help and Monitoring Programs: Artificial intelligence develops applications for managing and monitoring mental health issues for patients.
Prediction Models and Risk Assessment: Artificial intelligence assists in predicting future mental health problems and assessing risk factors.
These technologies aim to provide more personalized and effective care for individuals with mental health issues.
I think artificial intelligence is a bit scary, it gives such good answers.
But certainly its challenges are reliability and responsibility issues as well as ethical issues. In the future, it will certainly also be important that artificial intelligence does not replace human presence and interaction in, for example, treatment and teaching. I wanted to experiment with and utilize artificial intelligence in creating images for my blog as well.
Self reflection
While browsing through other students’ blogs, I noticed that there is still relatively little utilization of digitalization in my own line of work. Watching videos related to the course, I realized the opportunities and threats associated with it. I myself follow digitalization-related news quite closely, but I don’t boldly utilize all the possibilities that I could have. My teenage children use various platforms for learning and information retrieval much more smoothly and confidently. Digitalization has a lot to offer, but it’s important to remember the risks as well. “I learned to use artificial intelligence; I haven’t used it much before. And the images it created—impressive!”