December 1, 2012

Recent graduate Amber Hazan, BSN, RN, who now works at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, collaborated with co-worker Mary Markov, MEd, RN, to write an article for the Technology section of The Journal of Pediatric Nursing. Their work, “Advances in Communication Technology: Implications for New Nursing Skills,” emphasized importance of primitive augmentative and alternative communication (ACC) tools. In many medical environments, patients with disabilities utilize these devices in order to communicate with visitors, nurses, and other staff. In their article, Hazan and Markov discussed and rated many of these devices, such as Eye-gaze Edge, Camera Mouse, and MyTalk tools. Eye-gaze Edge, for example, “tracks eye movement and translates it into mouse cursor action on a standard computer screen, allowing a user with limited motor ability to access the internet, send messages, shop, etc.” To conclude their topic, the co-authors wrote, “in order to fully optimize patient care outcomes and safety, nurses may soon find that developing competencies in communication technology will become required skills.”