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Technology and mindfulness

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Technology and mindfulness

What ways were mentioned in the video that can stress you out and what are the ways that

you can deal with stress?

Medical technology has brought so much convenience to the medical field. However, medical

technology has facilitated the reduction of risks in healthcare facilities by reducing risks of

medication errors and increasing the safety and efficiency of patient care. However, medical

technology can cause stress to healthcare providers and interfere with the quality of healthcare

outcomes. Meredith states that this medical technology can be extremely frustrating when it

stops working, or there is a system upgrade. Medical devices tend to fail to properly function

during these incidences and could be the major cause of stress to nurses. Medical technology can

also be stressful when system programs fail to integrate and become compatible with other

programs in the healthcare facility. Moreover, when facilities introduce new technology or

programs or add new programs to the existing programs, healthcare providers may have a hard

time catching up hence developing stress. The failure in medical technology can be stressful for

example, in the video, it is mentioned that malfunction in medication administration technologies

would have adverse effects on healthcare outcomes. New technology and new programs in the

medical field are associated with a learning curve that can be stressful. Mindfulness can help deal

with stress caused by medical technology. When practicing mindfulness, it is important to

remember that we have a choice to make whether the technical glitch and other small matters

relating to the use of medical technology can control us or not. Mindfulness is an essential tool

for dealing with such stress because it focuses on training our brains to respond to such situations

than reacting. Taking a couple of mindful breaths after a technical glitch can significantly reduce

the stress associated with medical technology. Additionally, critical thinking can help nurses
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navigate stressful situations that are caused by the use of medical technology. Critical thinking

entails developing solutions to current problems by thinking of numerous alternatives to deal

with the problem. Finally, recalling and focusing on how technology makes work easier would

eliminate the stress associated with medical technology.

Can you describe a moment in your life when technology stressed you out?

Electronic medical health records have made it easy and convenient to access and review patient

medical history. However, with advancements in cloud storage and computing, databases can be

universally accessed by healthcare providers remotely from any place. A malfunction in the

database made me unable to access patient medication history when following up on a referral

from another healthcare facility. Since the cloud-based system was down at that time, accessing

patient records became quite challenging and frustrating since the patient needed immediate

attention. Ueberholz & Fiocco, (2022) assessed the effects of brief mindfulness practice on

perceived stress and sustained attention. the purpose of this study was to determine whether

mindfulness affects stress outcomes. The study involved 220 undergraduate students who were

randomly sampled for the study. The study findings show that perceived stress is reduced when

brief mindfulness practice is incorporated into a person’s routine. The study is useful for

informing the effects of priming on mindfulness engagement and its potential benefits to

healthcare professionals. Based on this study's findings, nurses can learn to be mindful in

stressful situation that could be caused by using medical technology. Mindful breathing is quite

useful in helping to calm down healthcare professionals when they are stressed out by medical

technology. I used mindful breaths to keep myself in control when the electronic health record

became problematic and failed to function as expected.

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Reference

Ueberholz, R. Y., & Fiocco, A. J. (2022). The effect of a brief mindfulness practice on

perceived stress and sustained attention: Does priming matter? Mindfulness, 13(7), 1757–1768.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01913-8