Technology and the digital revolution are changing the form of health and nursing care – Nursing Education Network

The digital revolution is changing the form of cardiac care, and nursing is at the middle of this alteration.

: Ferguson, C., Chen, Y., Davidson, P. M., & Wynne, R. (2025). The digital revolution in cardiovascular care mustn’t escape scientific scrutiny: a discussion paper. A contemporary nurse1-10.

This discussion paper discusses portable and implantable heart rate monitoring technologies. These include devices starting from smart watches and patches to insertable heart monitors. They are changing the best way we detect and manage conditions like atrial fibrillation (AF). Continuous real-time monitoring enables earlier detection of arrhythmias. It may potentially reduce stroke load. However, technological progress have to be accompanied by rigorous scientific evaluation. It also requires a thoughtful connection to practice.

For nurses, digital transformation is just not nearly latest devices – it’s about latest ways of working. Nurses often educate patients, adjust devices and troubleshoot problems, interpret data in context, and reply to early warning signs. The article highlights that nurses are ideally positioned to guide the adoption and implementation of those technologies, but only in the event that they critically engage with issues resembling:

• Data quality and accuracy (noise, artifacts, false positives)
• Cybersecurity, privacy and data ownership
• Workflow disruptions and data overload
• Equity and access to digital tools

Emerging “smart” technologies – smart watches, rings, vests, mattresses, even smart toilets – can together create a wealthy “digital phenotype” of a person’s cardiovascular health, combining passive monitoring with lively symptom reporting. For people affected by AF or heart failure, this opens up the potential of detecting deterioration earlier. It also enables distant monitoring and permits you to stay at home longer. At the identical time, wearable devices could cause anxiety. They can create stigma and fears about “big brother.” These problems arise in the event that they aren’t developed collaboratively with patients and families.

Looking to the long run, the authors propose that monitoring vital signs will grow to be more automated and supported by artificial intelligence. As a result, routine ‘watch rounds’ may get replaced by continuous digital surveillance. This change creates a possibility. It also creates accountability. Nursing work will be redesigned. The time saved will be reinvested in high-value, relational and person-centred care. This approach focuses on meaningful interactions moderately than simply more tasks. Nurses will need greater digital health skills. They also require data skills and interdisciplinary collaboration. These skills are essential to shaping latest models of telehealth, virtual wards and connected care.

Key message for nursing: The digital revolution in cardiac care is here. If nurses don’t lead the conversation – about evidence, ethics, regulations, collaborative design and implementation – technology will shape practice Down us. Through nurse-led innovation and significant appraisal, digital tools can enhance, not undermine, person-centered cardiovascular care. As at all times, nursing have to be on the table of changes in health care.