Nursing Informatics In Healthcare Essay

Nursing Informatics In Healthcare Essay

Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informatics

Nursing informatics emerges as a profound tool for improving care quality amidst the need to incorporate information, data, and knowledge to inform clinical decisions and processes. According to McGonigle & Mastrian (2018), healthcare organizations are determined to improve healthcare safety, ensure cost-effective processes, promote seamless care, and reduce care delays. As a result, integrating information, data, and wisdom into healthcare processes is a prerequisite for achieving these overriding goals. Further, the emergence of nursing informatics as a tool for promoting care quality has enhanced the role of nursing informatics as essential specialists for enabling organizations to incorporate information, data, and wisdom into practices.

What is nursing informatics?

The definition of nursing informatics is ever-changing due to the dynamics of healthcare environments and the widespread use of health information technologies (HITs). However, it is valid to define it as the science that entails integrating information, data, and knowledge into healthcare practices to ensure care quality and improve patient safety. According to Kassam et al. (2017), the American Nurses Association (ANA) defines nursing informatics (NI) as “the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information management and analytical sciences to identify, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing” (p. 1). Consequently, this definition links nursing informatics with the culture of effective information management, which involves proper information collection, storage, dissemination, and sharing.

What is the role of the nurse informaticist?

Nurse informaticists play a significant role in facilitating the integration of information, data, and wisdom in nursing practice. According to McGonigle & Mastrian (2018), informatics nurse specialists are responsible for planning and implementing nursing informatics projects, providing expert advice, opinions, and recommendations on their areas of expertise, educating and training others on system implementation, upgrading, and functionality, conducting research to create new informatics and clinical knowledge and participating in the implementation, designing, and marketing new informatics solutions. Also, they play a significant role in advocating for patients and healthcare systems, providing decision support, and as system specialists.

Nursing Informatics and Other Health Care Organizations

What is the experience of other healthcare organizations with nurse informaticists?

Nurse informaticists in other healthcare organizations contribute to improved care delivery and successful implementation of health information technologies such as electronic health records. McGonigle & Mastrian (2018) argue that informatics specialists are responsible for spearheading the implementation of new systems and educating others on the functionality of new technologies. According to Alotaibi & Federico (2017), health information technology (HIT) eliminates medication errors, improves care efficiency, reduces care delays, and enables frequent time tracking. Eventually, it is valid to argue that organizations with nurse informaticists benefit from the potential leveraging of healthcare information, data, and knowledge.

How do these nurse informaticists interact with the rest of the nursing staff and the Interdisciplinary team?

Nurse informaticists can collaborate with other healthcare professionals by participating in Interprofessional teams. An interdisciplinary team consisting of physicians, nurse leaders, registered nurses, nurse informaticists, and IT experts should facilitate incorporating information, data, and wisdom in nursing practice. Nangle et al. (2017) argue that nurse informaticists provide guidance and support to other employees when implementing new systems, such as genomics. Therefore, they can interact during training, education, and mentorship program to facilitate the implementation of new technologies and information systems.

Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology

How do fully engaged nurses in healthcare technology impact:

Patient care

Nurses understand the patient populations’ intricacies, priorities, and healthcare demands. On the other hand, technology developers need to understand organizational dynamics and care processes before implementing new technologies (Dykes & Chu, 2020). As a result, engaging nurses in all stages of implementing healthcare technology can Improve patient care by enabling them to avert medication errors, enhance process efficiency, and deliver patient-centered care. In this sense, technologies allow care professionals to adhere to various rights of medication management and administration, including ensuring that correct patients receive medication in the correct dosage, time, and thought-appropriate route. Therefore, healthcare technology is a prerequisite for quality and convenient care.

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Protected health information (security, privacy, and confidentiality)

Although health technologies improve care quality, they expose protected health information (PHI) to multiple threats, including cybercrimes, unethical sharing, and unauthorized access by third party users. In this sense, handling personal protected information, including data about insurance coverage, demographics, and clinical processes, is susceptible to ransomware, phishing, hacking, and security breaches. As a result, involving nurses in all the stages of system development, implementation, evaluation, and maintenance can enhance their knowledge and ability to safeguard data privacy, security, and confidentiality. Kruse et al. (2017) contend that healthcare professionals should implement three levels of data safeguards: physical, administrative, and technical. Nurses can effectively participate in interdisciplinary activities for safeguarding information safety, privacy, and confidentiality, including data encryption, backups, authentication, regular risk assessments, audits, and developing a recovery plan in case of system disruptions.

Workflow

Involving nurses in healthcare technology is a profound approach to improving workflow and promoting process efficiency. According to Dykes & Chu (2020), the tradition of excluding nurses in technology development contributes to downstream effects, including interruptions in provider workflow and the need for workarounds. In this sense, nurses possess the prerequisite skills and knowledge to evaluate core health technology tools, develop plans, implement, and support technology systems (Schoenbaum et al., 2020). These roles are vital in improving workflows and eliminating system disruptions hindering technology-mediated care.

Cost and return on investment

Implementing new healthcare technologies is a cost-intensive endeavor that targets return on investment in improved care, reduced care delays, process efficiency, and improved performance and productivity. Involving nurses in technology development allows developers to maximize the potential of new healthcare systems, meet end-users needs, and meet organizational goals without compromising nursing process efficiency (Dykes & Chu, 2020). Consequently, it is valid to contend that nurses can enable developers to curtail the costs of implementing new technologies by addressing disruptions while ensuring their functionality.

Opportunities and Challenges

Undeniably, there are limitless opportunities for nursing informatics, primarily due to the emerging healthcare technologies like artificial intelligence, electronic health records (EHRS), robotics, clinical decision support systems, and telehealth. Nurse informaticists can collaborate with other professionals, such as technology developers, nurses, physicians, senior leaders, and patients, to capitalize on these diverse possibilities that bolster the incorporation of nursing informatics into clinical practices. However, the future of nursing informatics is in jeopardy due to the prevailing organizational constraints, including resource deficiencies, staff shortages, a lack of supportive culture, mismatch in employee skills, and ever-changing regulatory environments (Mitchell & Khan, 2019). It is essential to embrace interdisciplinary collaboration and involve nurses in all steps of technology development to avert the drawbacks of nursing informatics and capitalize on limitless opportunities.

Summary of Recommendations

Nursing informatics entails the science of incorporating information, data, and wisdom into nursing practices and decisions. On the other hand, health technologies improve processes by enhancing efficiency, promoting timely care delivery, and reducing medication errors. Based on these contentions, it is valid to recommend healthcare institutions invest massively in healthcare technologies, transform human skills by hiring nurse informaticists and training other professionals, and involve nurses in all stages of technology development. For instance, involving nurses in technology development and hiring nurse informaticists can improve workflows, enable interdisciplinary collaboration, avert system disruptions, and reduce medication errors. Nurse informaticists are responsible for providing technical support, training other professionals, and spearheading technology implementation. On the other hand, nurses understand the intricacies of patient populations and care demands. Therefore, involving them in nursing informatics can promote the successful incorporation of information, data, and wisdom in nursing practice and decisions.

References

Alotaibi, Y., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health information technology on patient safety. Saudi Medical Journal, 38(12), 1173-1180. https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2017.12.20631

Dykes, S., & Chu, C. H. (2020). Now more than ever, nurses need to be involved in technology design: Lessons from the COVID‐19 pandemic. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 30(7-8). https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15581

Kruse, C., Smith, B., Vanderlinden, H., & Nealand, A. (2017). Security techniques for electronic health records. Journal Of Medical Systems, 41(8), 127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-017-0778-4

Mitchell, M., & Kan, L. (2019). Digital technology and the future of health systems. Health Systems & Reform, 5(2), 113-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/23288604.2019.1583040

Nagle, L. M., Sermeus, W., Junger, A., & Bloomberg, L. S. (2017). The evolving role of the nursing informatics specialist. Stud Health Technol Inform, 232, 212-221. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-738-2-212

Schoenbaum, A. E., DNP, MS, RN-BC, FHIMSS, Carroll, W. M., MS, & Members, R.-B. H. N. I. C. (2020, September 30). Nursing informatics key role in defining clinical workflow, increasing efficiency, and improving quality. https://www.himss.org/resources/nursing-informatics-key-role-defining-clinical-workflow-increasing-efficiency-and#

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Write a 4-5 page evidence-based proposal to support the need for a nurse informaticist in an organization who would focus on improving health care outcomes.

Introduction
As you begin to prepare this assessment, you are encouraged to complete the Team Perspectives of the Nurse Informaticist activity. Completion of this will help you succeed with the assessment as you explore the nurse informaticist\’s role from the different perspectives of the health care team. Completing activities is also a way to demonstrate engagement.

Nurses at the baccalaureate level in all practice areas are involved in nursing informatics through interaction with information management and patient care technologies. Nurses must not only demonstrate knowledge of and skills in health information and patient care technologies, but also how to use these tools at the bedside and organizational levels. Moreover, nurses need to recognize how information gathered from various health information sources can impact decision making at the national and state regulatory levels.

Scenario
For this assessment, assume you are a nurse attending a meeting of your state’s nurses association. A nurse informaticist conducted a presentation on her role and its impact on positive patient and organizational outcomes in her workplace. You realize that your organization is undergoing many technological changes. You believe this type of role could provide many benefits to your organization.

You decide to pursue proposing a nurse informaticist role in your organization. You speak to your chief nursing officer (CNO) and human resources (HR) manager, who ask you to prepare a 4–5 page evidence-based proposal to support the new role. In this way, they can make an informed decision as to whether the addition of such a role could justify the return on investment (ROI). They need your proposal before an upcoming fiscal meeting.​ This is not an essay, but instead, it is a proposal to create a new Nurse Informaticist position.

One important part of this assessment is the justification of the need for a nurse informaticist in a health care organization and references from relevant and timely scholarly or professional resources to support the justification for creating this nurse informaticist position. The term justify means to show or prove that the nurse informaticist position brings value to the organization. This justification must include evidence from the literature to support that this position will provide a return on investment for the organization.

Preparation
To successfully prepare for this assessment, you will need to complete these preparatory activities:

Review assessment resources and activities.
Conduct independent research on the nursing knowledge and skills necessary to interact with health information and patient care technology.
Focus your research on current resources available through peer-reviewed articles, professional websites, government websites, professional blogs, wikis, job boards, and so on.
Consult the BSN Program Library Research Guide for help in identifying scholarly and authoritative sources.
Interview peers in your network who are considered information technology experts.
Ask them about how information technology advances are impacting patient care at the bedside, at the organizational level, and beyond.
Proposal Format
The chief nursing officer (CNO) and human resources (HR) manager have asked you to include the following headings in your proposal and to be sure to address the bullets following each heading:

Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist
What is nursing informatics?
What is the role of the nurse informaticist?
Nurse Informaticists and Other Health Care Organizations
What is the experience of other health care organizations with nurse informaticists?
How do these nurse informaticists interact with the rest of the nursing staff and the interdisciplinary team?
IMPACT OF FULL NURSE ENGAGEMENT IN HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY
How does fully engaging nurses in health care technology impact:
Patient care?
Protected health information (security, privacy, and confidentiality)?
In this section, you will explain evidence-based strategies that the nurse informaticist and interdisciplinary team can use to effectively manage patients\’ protected health information, particularly privacy, security, and confidentiality. Evidence-based means that they are supported by evidence from scholarly sources.
Workflow?
Costs and return on investment?
Opportunities and Challenges
What are the opportunities and challenges for nurses and the interdisciplinary team with the addition of a nurse informaticist role?
How can the interdisciplinary team collaborate to improve quality care outcomes through technology?
Summary of Recommendations
What are 3–4 key takeaways from your proposal about the recommended nurse informaticist role that you want the CNO and the HR manager to remember?
This is the section where the justification for the implementation of the nursing informaticist role is addressed. Remember to include evidence from the literature to support your recommendation.
Additional Requirements
Written communication: Ensure written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
Submission length: 4–5 double-spaced pages, in addition to title and references pages.
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Citations and References: Cite a minimum of three current scholarly and/or authoritative sources to support your ideas. In addition, cite a minimum of one current professional blog or website to support your central ideas. Current means no more than five years old.
APA formatting: Be sure to follow APA formatting and style guidelines for citations and references. For an APA refresher, consult the Evidence and APA page on Campus.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

Competency 1: Describe nurses\’ and the interdisciplinary team\’s role in informatics with a focus on electronic health information and patient care technology to support decision making.
Define nursing informatics and the role of the nurse informaticist.
Explain how the nurse collaborates with the interdisciplinary team, including technologists, to improve the quality of patient care.
Justify the need for a nurse informaticist in a health care organization.
Competency 2: Implement evidence-based strategies to effectively manage protected health information.
Explain evidence-based strategies that the nurse and interdisciplinary team can use to effectively manage patients’ protected health information (privacy, security, and confidentiality).
Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication to facilitate use of health information and patient care technologies.
Follow APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.
Create a clear, well-organized, and professional proposal that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.