With nearly half of American nurses eligible to retire in the next five years, the need for new nursing technology is greater than matters of workflow and process efficiency alone.  But an array of innovations exist to extend “the healing hand:” robots, barcoding, RFID, PDA’s, tube systems, smart beds, smart pumps, smart cards, electronic kiosks, GPS, et al.  “Smart Technology, Enduring Solutions: Technology Solutions Can Make Nursing Care Safer and More Effective” appeared a year ago in the Journal of Healthcare Information Management (Fall, 2008, Vol. 22, No. 4), but it remains among the best overviews of medical automation in a major field of healthcare.    GET THE FULL REPORT