STI, STI-UWI Pushes for the Integration of IT Skills in Nursing

In 1999, a landmark report made by the Institute of Medicine estimating that more than 44,000 people die every year as a result of medical errors has spawned several studies that put the spotlight on nurses as a safety net. But it looks like results of these studies may have fallen on deaf ears because five years later, a continuing demand for increased patient safety is still being heard from all sectors. Hospital deaths due to inaccurate data gathering, it seems, still continue to rise unabated.

 

According to a recent report of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, medical errors cause the death of an estimated 98,000 people in the US every year – a rate that has alarmed healthcare and medical practitioners all over the US.

 

"Given this scenario, there is now a need for new systems that promote evidence-based, error-minimizing mechanisms to ensure safety in patient care," says Annabelle Reyes Borromeo, PHD, RN, CCRN, CNS, CPAN and currently President and CEO of STI-Universal Workers Inc. (STI-UWI), an international consulting firm that specializes in training, educating and preparing qualified health care professionals for a successful life and career abroad.

 

"Nowadays," she adds, "especially in the US, nurses no longer rely on heavy metal charts to find out a patient's lab works. All they have to do now is check the patient's history using a hand-held PC (or PDA) and just by accessing data available in the palm of her hand. Doctors' scribbled handwritings for medical prescriptions (which is a common cause for error) are also done away with," she muses. "The high-tech way is to use a networked computer containing a list of prescription drugs, choosing the right medicine and then placing an order online."

 

Thus, it seems that the use of information technology (IT) in gathering, storing, and processing of patient information is now be integrated into nursing practice. With the continuously growing demand for Filipino nurses abroad, the Philippines will soon be faced with the challenge of producing information technology (IT)-enabled nursing and healthcare professionals.

 

In a separate move to address this need for integrating IT in nursing, STI, the country's largest network of colleges, has recently broadened its program offerings by providing an IT-enhanced healthcare curriculum for students who would like to take up nursing and other allied health care professions.

 

"Living up to STI's commitment of making IT happen for the global Pinoy, we simply didn't want to limit ourselves in IT so we opted to go beyond offering IT education. This is how we came to the realization that we could also contribute in other areas especially in industries where there's a high demand for employment abroad," noted Monico Jacob, president and CEO of STI. "Right now, the biggest demand comes from the nursing and allied health care professions with about 434,000 nurses needed by 2020 in US hospitals alone. So by offering an IT-enhanced curriculum, we at STI are confident that registered Filipino nurses will soon be able to fill that demand, and our country will be able to continue churning out globally competitive nurses and healthcare professionals," he stressed.

 

To date, STI has started to utilize a unique human resource value chain called E2E (short for enrolment to employment) system. This system is set to provide students the needed training in IT programs and applications that match international standards. Through IT-enhanced curriculum, topics in information technology will soon be integrated into the healthcare curriculum to ensure that students will be able to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills needed for employment abroad where technology-based learning solutions will be practiced. Moreover, STI will soon unveil complete Nursing Skills Laboratories in all its campuses that offer nursing courses.