Assessment 1 Nursing Informatics in Health Care
Nurse leaders play important roles in healthcare organizations. Nursing managers play vital roles, such as evaluating institutional needs and implementing interventions to manage them. Gaps/needs in healthcare can be in various fields, such as staffing, quality improvement, leadership styles, management structure, shared values, and skilled labor.
Nursing leadership thus involves simpler routine tasks such as scheduling and supervising staff and other complex tasks such as quality improvement project implementation. The QIs include safety, education, staffing, and structural measures to fill the existing gaps. Some interventions aim to improve efficiencies, such as creating new nursing roles in the organization. This presentation focuses on such a project that falls under staffing roles. It presents the roles and importance of a nurse informaticist and proposes the position of a nurse informaticist in the healthcare organization.
Nursing Informatics and Nursing Informaticists
Nursing informatics is a nursing specialty that integrates nursing, analytical, and information sciences to identify, analyze, and disseminate nursing data and knowledge and facilitate its assimilation into nursing practice (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2021). Nursing informatics differs from healthcare informatics because it focuses on nursing activities and data. Just like healthcare informaticists, nursing informaticists collect, analyze, store, and disseminate nursing data, which is useful in healthcare institutions (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2021).
Documentation is vital in nursing care delivery, and these professionals ensure that data is meticulously prepared and stored for utilization. They work with nursing professionals and leaders to implement change interventions and evaluate care delivery. Nursing processes require continuous evaluation and improvement, and the nurse informaticist will help maintain this role.
Nursing informaticists have played vital roles in improving healthcare outcomes in other institutions. According to Paltonen et al. (2019), nurse informaticists have reduced the overreliance of nursing on other professionals, such as healthcare informaticists, and increased nursing activities’ success. Most nursing interventions are data-driven, and with the nurse informaticist, they are more accurate and promote patent safety and quality care.
Nurse informaticists provide more convincing arguments by introducing relevant data and will thus play a vital role in policy and guidelines development. Nursing informaticists provide data to other healthcare professionals, such as nutritionists, pharmacists, and doctors, that is vital in care planning. They thus improve interactions and lead to more successful interprofessional collaboration.
The nurse informaticist will analyze current healthcare data to help make vital care decisions at the management level. The nursing department will thus not rely on the informaticist and quality assurance departments to receive data to improve their care quality, as is the current situation (Peltonen et al., 2019).
Strudwick et al. (2019) note that routine data collection and analysis helps improve nurses’ responsibility in data collection and analysis. The informaticist will ensure that nurses enter records accurately and on time. They follow up on these tasks and teach nurses to collect and incorporate data in normal settings.
Due to their nursing and technology backgrounds, the nursing informaticist will provide helpful advice on the different technologies and interventions to solve current problems. In addition, they will help collect data for quality improvement projects, easing the hectic processes involved in pre-and post-implementation evaluations.
Impact Of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology
Nurses are the professionals close to the patient and the best professionals in implementing and evaluating technologies. They evaluate patients and implement technologies such as IV drug pumps that improve care delivery efficiency and promote patient safety. Kumari et al. (2019) note that informatics help nurses notice trends (in healthcare dashboards) reflected in data and raise early alarms hence their control.
Nurses’ involvement in technology is vital to ensure they learn and efficiently use these technologies. They help improve workflow through reduced work burden, common data entry and management points, better care coordination, and reduced role confusion among professionals. Participation in healthcare technology improves their knowledge, and nurses’ knowledge of technology increases their acceptance and implementation hence better patient outcomes.
Brown et al. (2020) note that nurses’ activities require continuous improvement, and involving nurses in healthcare technology introduces vital insights into implementing these technologies. Nurses also participate in their evaluation and subsequent improvement for better healthcare outcomes. There are various strategies meant to protect patient information.
These strategies include using electronic health records that are well-protected from external attacks. Individualized logins for authorized professionals will help keep unauthorized personnel away. Modern technologies also allow leaders to track professionals and their work online. They help show the location, duration, and activity in the electronic health records. Such technologies will help keep information safe by addressing perpetrators and ensuring that access to information is highly regulated. Nurses are
Cost and Return on Investment
The return on investment in healthcare varies and is based on the costs the hospital prevents by implementing change interventions. There are various costs the hospital incurs due to the lack of a nursing informaticist role in the organization. The nursing informaticist will collect and analyze data in the quality improvement project, an activity that costs the organization a fortune to get done.
The institution often hires external auditors for the role, and owing to the high number of QIs, the institution spends a lot of money (over $400000) yearly on these external auditors. The nurse informaticist will also ensure that the nurses are well-updated on current technologies and evidence-based practices, thus improving care quality and patient safety. In addition, they will detect problems early and participate in quality improvement for better population health outcomes.
Opportunities and Challenges
The first opportunity is the already high workload in the informaticist department, nursing being the highest contributor to healthcare information. Another opportunity is the high number of quality improvement projects in nursing that require management (Booth et al., 2021). The nurse informaticist will also provide vital data to other professionals for decision-making.
The informaticist will also collect data from other professionals crucial to their work. No discipline can be entirely independent and data sharing in the various department is vital. Booth et al. (2021) note that the major challenge facing nursing data science, including nursing informaticists, is change resistance by the healthcare leaders and the nurses due to limited understanding of the role. Another major challenge is role confusion.
The nurse informaticist has distinguished roles from health records, information officers, and health informaticists. It might take time before nurses and other healthcare professionals understand their distinct roles and participate in their work. In addition, the role will come with an added cost which will entail the nurse informaticists and their secretary, all of whom the healthcare institution will pay.
Summary of Recommendation
The nurse informaticist will form a vital link between nurses, patients, and healthcare information. They will provide data for healthcare improvement. They also assess the data plan and implement interventions to improve healthcare delivery within their jurisdiction. Another major role is assessing departmental technology needs and implementing them to increase efficiency and promote better outcomes.
The nurse informaticist will ease the burden on the health informaticist and increase the nursing activities’ efficiency. The role is thus vital in ensuring continued patient safety and improving care quality and efficiency, thus critical to the organization.
In addition, it will help cut the hospital’s exorbitant costs with external auditors in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data on quality improvement projects in nursing. The role will also increase interprofessional collaboration, and its implementation in the organization will benefit the patients, nurses, and the healthcare institution.
References
Peltonen, L. M., Pruinelli, L., Ronquillo, C., Nibber, R., Peresmitre, E. L., Block, L., Deforest, H., Lewis, A., Alhuwail, D., Ali, S., Badger, M. K., Eler, G. J., Georgsson, M., Islam, T., Jeon, E., Jung, H., Kuo, C. H., Sarmiento, R. F. R., Sommer, J. A., and & Topaz, M. (2019). The current state of Nursing Informatics–An international cross-sectional survey. Finnish Journal of eHealth and eWelfare, 11(3), 220–231. https://doi.org/10.23996/fjhw.77584
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2021). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th Ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Strudwick, G., Nagle, L., Kassam, I., Pahwa, M., & Sequeira, L. (2019). Informatics competencies for nurse leaders: a scoping review. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(6), 323-330. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000760
Brown, J., Pope, N., Bosco, A. M., Mason, J., & Morgan, A. (2020). Issues affecting nurses’ capability to use digital technology at work: an integrative review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(15-16), 2801–2819. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15321
Booth, R., Strudwick, G., McMurray, J., Chan, R., Cotton, K., & Cooke, S. (2021). The future of nursing informatics in a digitally-enabled world. In Introduction to Nursing Informatics (pp. 395–417). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58740-6_16
Assessment 1 Instructions: Nursing Informatics in Health Care
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.