Nurse 'transformer' an ambassador for digital health

With technology playing an increasingly significant role in health care, nursing professionals are excited about the future but concerned about its application and potential impacts, including increasing administrative burden.

The findings are part of the ‘Consultation and research summary report: National Nursing Workforce Strategy’ funded by the Department of Health and Aged Care. This report provides a summary of stakeholder consultation findings for Stage 1 of the Strategy. Involving insights from almost 6000 participants, the report found that while 47% of nurses feel they are equipped to use technology effectively to improve patient outcomes, around 63% do not feel that their education prepared them to use digital tools and technology in the workplace.

Margaret Dempsey, an experienced registered nurse and an ambassador for digital health, is presenting at the Nursing Midwifery in Digital Health Conference (#NMiDH24), to be held on 3–4 August in Brisbane, to share practical examples of where nurses drive use of digital technologies to improve work efficiencies and patient care.

Dempsey, a nurse with an extensive background in emergency and primary healthcare settings, including clinical, education and facilitation roles, leads the Digital Health Nurse Transformer program for the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association. This initiative supports nurses to become digital health champions, advocates and change enablers, to increase confidence in using digital health technologies in routine practice. The flow-on effect is increased workforce efficiencies and improved patient outcomes.

The #NMiDH24 is a dedicated nursing and midwifery informatics event to be held on Saturday, 3 August 2024 followed by optional workshops on Sunday, 4 August at the Brisbane Convention Centre before Health Innovation Community 2024 (HIC 2024). All nurses and midwives are invited to network, learn and share their experiences in their digital health careers and learn about career development.

HIC 2024 is for anyone working in the healthcare sector to learn more about the rapidly changing ways health and care is being delivered in the digital world. HIC 2024 brings together Fellows and Members of the Institute with clinical and industry stakeholders, government networks and the broader health and care community.

The 2024 program features:

• 100+ national and international digital health expert speakers.
• Learning labs — getting real, asking questions and taking away practical learnings.
• Panel discussions — asking hard questions on key topics and challenges to learn from.
• A symposium for early-career researchers — helping new to mid-career researchers with targeted advice and mentoring.
• Executives in digital health — a dedicated stream for senior executives and emerging leaders.
   

Image: Margaret Dempsey, Project Officer, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association. Image: Supplied.