Nursing and technology.

Abstract

Nursing began as an effort to provide care and comfort to the sick and injured. As our society developed, technological change began to increasingly affect the practice of nursing. Nurses found themselves caring for machines in addition to, or instead of, patients. All areas of nursing were affected by the technological explosion of the past 25 years. But nursing education and agency orientation programs have not prepared the nurse to work closely with sophisticated equipment. Conventional sex-role sterotyping contributes to the problem. Changes in academic training, employer practices, and nurses themselves are necessary. Nurses are the chief users of health care technology. They should have the skills to manage that technology.