Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal

The proliferation of health apps in the digital health landscape has created significant opportunities for health promotion, particularly during pregnancy. However, despite the widespread distribution and popularity of pregnancy mobile apps, there are limited data on their quality and content.

Neuromuscular diseases (NMDs) constitute a heterogeneous group of disorders that affect motor neurons, neuromuscular junctions, and muscle fibers, resulting in symptoms such as muscle weakness, fatigue, and reduced mobility. These conditions significantly affect patients' quality of life and impose a substantial burden on caregivers. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a relatively common NMDs in children that presents in various types with varying degrees of severity.

The number of children requiring daily medical care is on the rise, with many being cared for at home. This situation places a significant burden on mothers, who often serve as the primary caregivers.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is transforming the health care sector through advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data, leading to new expectations for rapid and accurate treatment. While the integration of technology in nursing tasks is on the rise, there remains a critical need to balance technological efficiency with empathy and emotional connection. This study aims to develop and validate a competency model for emotional touch nursing that responds to the evolving demands of the changing health care environment.

Effective communication about cancer prognosis is imperative for enhancing the quality of end-of-life care and improving patient well-being. This practice is sensitive and is heavily influenced by cultural values, beliefs, and norms. This can lead to ethical dilemmas. Despite their significance, ethical challenges in nursing practice relating to prognosis communication are understudied in China.

Music has frequently been used in movement exercises to enhance health benefits. However, scientific evidence regarding the application of music to Tai Chi practice is limited.

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs in the United States confer the highest practice degree in nursing. The proportion of racial and ethnic minority DNP students, including those of Asian descent, keeps increasing in the United States. Statistics is commonly required for DNP programs. However, there is insufficient evidence regarding the number of years within which statistics should be taken and the minimum grade required for admission to the program.

In a global context, the shortage of nursing personnel has emerged as a significant challenge, particularly in countries such as China experiencing population aging. The inadequacy of nursing human resources has become one of the primary threats affecting the quality of health services available to Chinese residents. Therefore, forecasting the demand for nursing personnel has become an important issue.

Nurses play a key role in providing in-hospital care to patients. Worldwide, there has been a shortage of nursing staff, putting enormous strain on the existing nursing workforce physically and mentally. A vicious cycle of demanding workplaces exacerbated by perennial shortages leads to attrition and high staff turnover. A centralized, automated infusion pump monitoring system optimizes and augments nurses’ performance in the hospital by cutting down on nurse visits to the patient’s bedside for every matter, whether significant or insignificant. This viewpoint intends to highlight that by filtering out the noise effectively, nurses can focus on improving patient outcome–led interventions and enhancing the quality of care.

Immersive virtual reality (IVR) is a niche technology rising in popularity in nursing education. Although there is an abundance of evidence to demonstrate the effect of virtual reality (VR) on desired learning outcomes, this evidence is limited to technical or procedural skills or managing a single patient with clinical problems. Nontechnical skills (NTS), such as communication, decision-making, teamwork, situation awareness, and managerial skills, have not been explored using IVR technology.

Interoception encompasses the conscious awareness of homeostasis in the body. Given that fetal movement awareness is a component of interoception in pregnant women, the timing of initial detection of fetal movement may indicate individual differences in interoceptive sensitivity.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping health care, including nursing, across Asia, presenting opportunities to improve patient care and outcomes. This viewpoint presents our perspective and interpretation of the current AI landscape, acknowledging its evolution driven by enhanced processing capabilities, extensive data sets, and refined algorithms. Notable applications in countries such as Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and China showcase the integration of AI-powered technologies such as chatbots, virtual assistants, data mining, and automated risk assessment systems. This paper further explores the transformative impact of AI on nursing education, emphasizing personalized learning, adaptive approaches, and AI-enriched simulation tools, and discusses the opportunities and challenges of these developments. We argue for the harmonious coexistence of traditional nursing values with AI innovations, marking a significant stride toward a promising health care future in Asia.