Impact of Blockchain Technology on Nursing Documentation and Patient Privacy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22399/ijcesen.4794Keywords:
Blockchain Technology, Nursing Documentation, Patient Privacy, Health Information Security, Data Integrity, InteroperabilityAbstract
Blockchain technology presents a transformative paradigm for nursing documentation and patient privacy by addressing critical vulnerabilities in current centralized electronic health record systems. Through its core principles of decentralization, cryptographic hashing, and immutable ledgers, blockchain introduces a framework for creating a single, verifiable source of truth for patient data that is secure from tampering and unauthorized alteration. For nursing documentation, this ensures the integrity and provenance of every entry, streamlines interoperability across care settings, and automates administrative tasks via smart contracts, thereby reducing burdensome workflow and enhancing patient safety. Simultaneously, it fundamentally redefines patient privacy by enabling a model of data sovereignty where patients, through self-sovereign identity and granular consent mechanisms, become the active custodians and permission-grantors of their personal health information. This shift not only fortifies security against breaches but also fosters unprecedented transparency and trust in the patient-provider relationship. While significant challenges in scalability, regulation, and implementation persist, the integration of blockchain holds the potential to create a more resilient, efficient, and patient-centric healthcare ecosystem where nursing documentation evolves from a static administrative record into a dynamic, secure, and collaborative tool for high-quality care.
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