Digital Native

I believe that I am a digital native, even though I was not born into the digital world I did grow up through part of it. I am accustomed to getting my answers quickly, if I don't know something, I always just Google it. I would much rather talk to someone via email than to call them on the phone. I work in an office and nothing is ever mailed anymore, if it is not emailed to me then it is faxed. No one wants to waste the time of mailing someone a copy of something in the mail. We have all gotten accustomed to getting what we are wanting or needing immediatly. I am not really sure how schools could change for digital natives because I am not in a classroom setting anymore (all my classes are online). Which in my opinion has been a huge change! Even compared to a couple of years ago, the amount of online classes offered have tripled!

Nursing and Technology

Since I am undecided on my major, but leaning toward nursing I decided to use it in this assignment. Nursing is so widely affected by technology. Every aspect has been changed as advancements have been made throughout the years. Blood pressure is taken with an electronical monitor where several years ago nurses used a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff. Temperatures are now taken by running a thermometer across your forehead. There are so many things that have been impacted by technology that it is hard to pick the ones to write about. I am very familiar with ultrasound machines and I remember when I was pregnant with my daughter 7 years ago the ultrasounds were the grainy black and white images, now with the 3D and 4D machines you can see every detail about the baby. If you are a patient in the cardiac unit you will be hooked up to a machine that monitors your heart rate constantly, as apposed to someone coming in every hour or 1/2 hour to listen to your chest. Every vital that you have can be monitored by a computer at the nurses station. As technology becomes more advanced so with the abilities of nurses.

We Think

The internet is full of information and ideas. I had quite a few complications during my last pregnancy so everytime I went to the doctor he would be trying to explain a condition or procedure to me but I never really understood. As soon as I would get home I would get on the internet and not only research what he had told me but I would also read other peoples experiences. That way when I went back to the doctor I would have a list of questions or concerns for him. At one point he laughed and said "I hate when my patients are smarter than me." As much good information that there is on the internet I am sure there is an equal amount of false. In my English class my instructor told us not to get any information from Wikipedia for our research papers. Due to the fact that it was not verified and anyone could post it.
But on the same note sometimes peoples opinions and comments are not warrant or welcome. In some cases the internet makes people think that they can do or say whatever they want to just because people can't see their face. There is a blog on the internet that I frequently read about a couple who had a baby girl prematurely. The blog has been about theirs and their daughters struggles. Recently there have been nasty comments left for these people that had to be deleted. No one would walk up to this couple in the NICU and say mean and nasty things to them so why did they feel it was acceptable to post them online???