NURS FPX 6011 Assessment 1 Evidence-Based Patient-Centered Needs Assessment

Student Name

Capella University

NURS-FPX 6011

Professor Name

Submission Date

Evidence-Based Patient-Centered Needs Assessment

For chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), there is a need to explore the health, economics, and culture involved in the management of the disorder. Older patients with limited resources rely on overcoming barriers in order to receive the needed care. Interventions like user-centered technology contribute to patient engagement, which highly contributes to the stabilization of health (Alruwayshid et al., 2022). This paper aims to discuss the use of information and communication technology in improving the participation of patients in chronic illness self-care. It also reviews measures of managing risks for poor results and increasing accessibility of health care for individuals who have few options for health care services.

Case Scenario

Mr. Samuel Green is a 68-year-old male African American who has a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He was present in a primary care clinic after being frequent in the emergency room for the worsening of his respiratory symptoms. He is a single man living in a low socio-economic status urban community and has poor access to a personal means of transport, which hinders him from attending follow-up appointments. Samuel struggles to understand the instructions regarding taking medication and to deal with his illness. The most important issue for the caregivers is his health, particularly his respiratory status and level of participation in care.

Importance of Addressing Patient Engagement

Samuel Green should be urged to manage his COPD appropriately, but there are some obstacles that present themselves in the path of management of his condition. It is proven that, in such a way, patient engagement leads to better health outcomes for patients, including compliance with medication and reduced cases of re-hospitalizations (Marzban et al., 2022). Sagen et al. (2023) focus on the components of patient engagement in the decision-making process and self-competence. In particular, Mr. Green is one of the vulnerable clients who can benefit from the application of integrated education and behaviour modification with the assistance of technology during the treatment of COPD.

Patient Engagement Strategies

When working on the case concerning Mr. Green, one must take into account his literacy levels, culture, and economic status. The teach-back approach will allow making sure that he has understood all the medical education provided, and the mobile health technologies, including automated voice and simple applications, could be useful in medication taking. In addition to that, cultural sensitivity in telehealth visits, racially and ethnically sensitive educational written resources on a 5th-grade reading level can be used to address the problem of literacy and transportation (Hilty et al., 2021).

The community health workers of the same origin as the patient also demand additional human resources to enhance his trust and care at home to manage his condition. The clinical strategies that are evidence-based will assist Mr. Green to take control of his life and overcome environmental factors that undermine his control over COPD.

Potential Use and Impact of Information and Communication Technology Tools

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) applications can form a powerful role in the emerging health literate consumers, as Samuel Green, a COPD patient, may have trouble understanding different aspects of his COPD. Telecommunication support and functionalities that benefit the mHealth application can reward the patient with timely and convenient information about their illness, management of treatment, and self-care (Fitzpatrick, 2023).

As an example, features like medication alerts, symptom monitoring, and informed content in a format selected by the user can be added as an application to COPD patients. Remote consultations with medical interventions also qualify as telehealth features, and this would come in particularly handy to Mr. Green since he already lacks good mobility choices. Such technologies increase the knowledge base of patients with their diseases and how to handle them, thus showing higher levels of compliance with prescribed treatment plans and lower rates of hospitalization (Awad et al., 2021). Moreover, the application of such tools can be customized to meet the requirements of a specific patient, and this makes utilization of the technology more beneficial to improve patient engagement and improve health.

Areas of Uncertainty

The unknown factors when it comes to healthcare technologies and their accessibility to Mr. Green are various, such as owning a smartphone or having a stable internet connection to access the offered m-Health app or participate in any teleconsultancy. The cultural preference related to his health literacy, in addition to how the elderly patient is at ease with technology, is also critical. Culturally modified interventions are more successful in reaching individuals of distinct cultures, as was found by Joo and Liu (2020). Determining the level of engagement with technology in the context of the availability of mobile health applications and the consumption of digital media will aid in improving the ICT tools that Mr. Green needs, taking into consideration his economic and social status.

Value and Relevance of Technology Modalities

The mHealth apps, patient portal, telehealth, and wearable devices are some of the best examples of technology-related factors that can have a positive influence on the health, economic, and cultural aspects of life of Samuels Green. These tools not only facilitate care planning and time-to-time communication with the providers but also enable access to educational material that is timely, appropriate, and convenient.

In the event of persistent diseases such as COPD, mHealth applications allow patients to document their symptoms, give warnings about the drugs, and, in case of abnormal values, inform them that it is excessive. An electronic health record portal can enhance patient satisfaction since patients or their caregivers can access the information they require, make appointments, and also communicate with the providers at any time (Fennelly et al., 2024). Individualized elements (decorations) of the interface, e.g., language, acquisition of user-friendly looks and means of design, provide equal opportunities to people of different literacy levels, of other cultures, and of different technological literacy.

Exchange and Interoperability of Technology and Specific Ways of Communication

By designing such technologies, the designers have taken into consideration the ethical and culturally sensitive design perspectives during the development of the technology. As an example, the elements of telehealth forms must include aspects of what type of information may be discussed in detail within the system of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other laws by both the client and the clinician (Houser et al., 2023).

Besides, the interoperability and the health information exchange allow the data to be easily transferred across different systems, and it has been taken into consideration, having an immense influence on care coordination, removal of unnecessary testing, and delivery of timely interventions (Dixon et al., 2022). Health information exchange happens as an interaction between two or more organizations, during which they share the records of a patient and the main clinical concepts. Subsequently, the distribution of these technologies as an innovative solution can provide patient-centered care to patients with different demands at reduced prices as well as enhanced productivity.

Innovative Use of Technology for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Care

The next innovative practice in terms of the enhancement of multicultural population patient care quality is the implementation of AI-translators and multilingual telemedicine systems. Such technologies remove the obstacle of language as a barrier when using online consultations by providing simultaneous translation, or a patient portal on which a patient knows the diagnosis, treatment, and instructions provided in their language. In patients with potential problems of language or cultural difference, such tools can be used to make the patient more involved, so that they may be less vulnerable to complications that could hamper the provision of quality health care. Vera et al. (2023) indicate that the tools in question improve safety, satisfaction, and compliance with the disease-treating plan in comparison to the violation of the ethical principle of autonomy and informed consent (Al Shamsi et al., 2020).

The other approach is culturally sensitive Mhealth solutions, which incorporate the specific needs of a community when using applications or wearable devices. These applications offer approximately health education, medication reminder, and chronic diseases monitoring in various languages, and culturally appropriate health literacy and health beliefs. An example is to consider foods that people are familiar with to be part of the dietary management or health practice as undertaken by people of faith to promote trust. They also allow the patients to handle their conditions more effectively and positively towards the various demographics. Hilty et al. (2021) also evidence the impact of the culturally and linguistically adapted digital tools and their contribution to enhancing engagement, health literacy, and positive health outcomes among different communities.

How Strategies Mitigate the Risk of Adverse Outcomes

To avoid such occurrences in the future for patients, who are vulnerable because they cannot control their health records and use technology, strategies are employed to increase the accessibility of the records, awareness, and culturally sensitive approaches to technology in the healthcare sector. Among the largest threats is the fact that patients will lack the opportunity to know their electronic health records and even struggle to locate them, hence leading to medication-related complications, lack of attendance to appointments, and poor management of the disease. Remedial design, therefore, must be accepted and applied in the mobile health apps and interfaces of the patient portals in language and graphics.

An example of this is the use of simplified dashboards, color-coded alerts, voice-over features, and so on to help a patient like Samuel navigate and take action regarding his health information. As an example, the implementation of such activities as the use of MyChart with the Spanish translation had previously been successful in terms of improving patient outreach and medication adherence (Singhal, 2021). Tele-reference centers and tele-counselors are also aimed at people who do not possess a device or have little or no access to the internet. These will help in offering equal access to care, reducing the gaps in knowledge among technology-proficient and technology-poor students, and helping students make better choices that will benefit their health, thereby reducing the cases of unfavorable occurrences of conditions that could have been prevented.

Conclusion

The issues of technology and health informatics literacy must be individual in nature to offer good healthcare to patients like Samuel Green. Patients may be made active stakeholders in their respective treatment with the adoption of culturally sensitive media technology solutions, health literacy accommodation, and other approaches to engagement with their patients. This way, the possible differences in the areas of knowledge, access, and trust can be bridged through the means of a successful and amicable use of health information technology. The interventions are also effective in preventing recurrent hospitalization and complications of chronic diseases. In totality, appropriate use of technology can help healthcare practitioners offer professional services to all their patients regardless of their color in the right way.