NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 1 Nursing Informatics in Health Care Paper
NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 1 Nursing Informatics in Health Care Paper
Nursing Informatics Proposal
Introduction
Recent technological advantages have shaped the healthcare sector in profound ways, in areas such as the delivery of care services. In today’s healthcare sector, nurses play a critical role in guaranteeing that health information technology fosters care safety, patient-centeredness of care, and the quality of services (Zadvinskis, Smith & Yen, 2018).
The important role is made possible by many factors, including the utilization of nursing informatics, which refers to the integration of nursing science with the information technology and analytics systems required to identify, explore, manage, and communicate the data, knowledge, and information required to support care service delivery (Zadvinskis, Smith & Yen, 2018).
In light of the importance of nursing informatics in care service delivery today, this proposal explores the crucial aspects of the new technology and its adoption and the practitioner’s role. The focal areas include defining nursing informatics, the critical role of the nurse informaticist, the working experience of a professional in a healthcare setting, the impact on nursing technology use, and the challenges and opportunities that affect the practitioner’s role (Zadvinskis, Smith & Yen, 2018).
Nursing Informatics and the Role of the Practitioner
Nursing Informatics
The recent increase in the adoption of information and communication technologies has profoundly affected the healthcare sector, including improving the utilization of technologies. Some common forms of nursing informatics tools in use in healthcare includes Electronic medical records (EMRs) and Computerized provider order entry (CPOE), which make service delivery easier, quicker, and more convenient for providers and patients. However, despite the widespread adoption of nursing informatics, there is some contention on the definition of the application.
According to the American Nurses Association (AMA), “Nursing informatics (NI) is the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information management and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice” (ANA, 2021). The widely accepted definition is that nursing informatics refers to the integration of information and communication technologies in medicine, tackling a wide array of challenges, including access to health information and the promotion of community health.
As indicated in the definition, nursing informatics covers various aspects of information and communication technology and care delivery, including computer sciences and information sciences, in mediating and fostering data, knowledge, and information communication and sharing. Integrating nursing informatics supports patient care services, nurse practice, the work of interprofessional teams, and healthcare stakeholder decision-making across all settings towards improving care outcomes (Zadvinskis, Smith & Yen, 2018).
The Nurse Informaticist Role
Nurse informaticists are registered nurses (RNs) with clinical training and working, allowing them to understand the healthcare organization’s work environment and workflow adequately. The nurse informaticist’s role is crucial in healthcare service delivery, noting the responsibilities they play, including evaluating and selecting the technologies to employ, establishing the needs of end-users, customizing functionality, and designing and delivering healthcare training (Byrne, 2021). According to ANA (2021), the role of the nurse informaticist entails various functional areas and responsibilities that entail working as different experts.
The major roles they play include project managers, research on the impacts of service delivery for patients and service providers, analyzing information and data, and ensuring organizational compliance with national laws, regulations, and standards (ANA, 2021). The roles and responsibilities of the nursing informaticist also entail patient and organizational advocacy, helping shape and model organizational policies and care standards at the organizational, local, state, federal, regional, and international levels. Additionally, the nurse informaticist plays the crucial role as a liaison between the clinical and technical departments and communities during project implementation, staff training, education, and the adoption of healthcare applications, devices, and systems (Byrne, 2021).
The Nurse Informaticist the HCR Home Care
Nursing informatics offers a vast array of nursing strengths, cultivates the interests, and influences the operational functions of the healthcare organization at every area of service delivery in clinical practice (Byrne, 2021). The success of an organization’s IT department is greatly dependent on the communication and collaboration between the nurse informaticist and other healthcare services delivery stakeholders.
During the interview with Johnson Michael, a nurse informaticist working with HCR Home Care, a New York-based healthcare organization that provides home-based services. During the discussion on the importance of nurse informatics, Mr. Michael explained that his role is critical to creating and adopting a new electronic medical record (EMR) system. During the process leading to the adoption of the new patient information and record capturing system, he worked closely with the IT and administration departments to pick the ideal EMR program, depending on whether it improved clinical documentation, complied with local, state, and federal regulations, and fostered the quality of patient care across the organization.
During the few weeks leading to the adoption of the EMR system, she collaboratively worked with the various departments, including training and education with nursing and administrative staff and therapists. The training and education cultivated the required levels of proficiency in using the EMR system, which they did in in-person and online-based training. By cultivating the skills, knowledge, and expertise in using the new EMR program, Mr. Michael ensured that he cultivated the understanding required to embrace the system and utilize its benefits.
In addressing the potential challenges that could limit the system’s adoption, he answered the questions and queries on adopting the new system, including the follow-up that the IT, administrative, and nursing departments required. Following the system’s adoption, the nurse informaticist did weekly meetings with the departmental heads and other critical staff, including nurses, office, administrative, and medical staff, to discuss the progress made and the issue encountered. Currently, the new system has been in use for the past three years and she continues to offer the education, training, and support required to offer the organization the most benefits, depending on routine and emergent needs (Byrne, 2021).
Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology on Core Care Services
Patient Care
Due to the nurse’s perfect placement to explore and discover gaps and issues in care services delivery, by finding and using transformative ways to guide their practice outlook, which entails leading initiatives aimed at improving patient outcomes (Byrne, 2021). The nurse informaticist’s role is crucial to organizational outcomes, considering that adopting supporting technologies fosters research, access to information, and communication effectiveness, improving patient safety and supporting evidence-based nursing outcomes (Byrne, 2021).
The commonly used tools include automated blood pressure checking cuffs and electronic medical records to minimize medical errors while also improving nurse engagement and presence in patient care delivery. Adopting these technologies has expanded the operational scope of nurses, meaning that they can serve a larger number of people, including remotely, by leveraging the IT system. More importantly, the systems allow them to improve patient engagement and improve care outcomes, benefitting patients.
Protected Healthcare Information
Full nurse engagement in health care technology is equally impactful in promoting the security and privacy of patient information, which is a crucial consideration in care provision, especially due to the adoption of electronic documentation. For example, the widespread adoption of the EMR, also called electronic health records (EHRs), is crucial in planning patient care, documenting service delivery, and assessing the outcomes from the process. The adoption of technology minimized the ease of access to protected health information among unauthorized people due to the conversion of analog to digital information.
However, the change also introduced risks such as hacking and cybercrime, which are adequately contained using emerging security technologies, which have improved patient information protection. The roles of the nurse in protecting patient information include securing their passwords and using double-layer authentication where applicable. Other steps include activating the settings for automatically logging out of computers when not in use for some minutes and ensuring that computer screens are concealed from unauthorized users.
Workflow
The adoption of IT and the full engagement of nursing staff improve care service delivery efficiency and comprehensiveness (Byrne, 2021). Some practical applications that improve workflow include electronic charting, which allows nurses quick and easy access to information, allowing them to channel more time to patient-centered care, for example, at the bedside. IT adoption also fosters the recording and sharing of information, fostering access to required records and information such as diagnostic results and vital indicators in real-time, improving the speed, quality, and outcomes of care services (Byrne, 2019). For unit managers, technology improves staff performance and efficiency due to the careful planning of work shifts, using online self-scheduling platforms, allowing for ease of resource allocation.
Costs and Returns on Investment
In response to the rising demand for improved healthcare service delivery due to policy changes such as the directives under the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that incentivize care delivery in different areas. In light of the target changes, nurses have a crucial role to play, including increasing care organization accountability, quality and financial metrics observation, and improved time management (Butler, 2015; Butler, 2015).
The changes have reduced the costs of care, such as the adoption of telehealth during the Covid-19 pandemic and collaboration between practitioners operating in different healthcare organizations and areas (Jumreornvong et al., 2020). Further, technologies such as EMRs improve the planning, design, and optimization of healthcare technology implementation, which have led to improved financial outcomes in the short and long-term.
Opportunities and Challenges
The primary objective of nursing informatics and its adoption is improving patient health outcomes through the optimization of communication and information management by offering the opportunities to improve care delivery, administrative functions, and research, among other areas. The adoption of technology offers a wide array of opportunities, including improved administrative functions, improving the effectiveness of support systems, and supporting healthcare research due to the availability of real-time information (Butler, 2015).
Further, the platform offers the systems and functions that improve workflow management and the oversight of the environment. Health IT also offers solutions to some problems, including the limited interdisciplinary communication that affected teams in the past, due to lacking the systems required to share information across distances and easily (Butler, 2015). For example, telehealth allows communication and collaboration across staff, organizations, and regions (Jumreornvong et al., 2020).
The challenges nurses and healthcare organizations need to address include the limited collaboration between practitioners and other groups due to the newness of the technology and the systems. The second challenge is the limited support and willingness of patients to get service rendered using the new platforms. The third challenge is the risk of privacy and confidentiality due to the threat of cybercrime and hacking, which is a major challenge for organizations using technologies instead of analog documentation (Kruse et al., 2017). However, healthcare organizations can address the challenge with adequate research and guarantee positive outcomes for patients and organizations.
Summary of Recommendations
The nursing profession is changing profoundly, due to the fast-changing technological changes in the area of technology, which has fostered healthcare service delivery. The biggest changes have resulted from the adoption of nursing informatics, which has greatly influenced the work of nurses in patient care. Nursing informatics has improved nursing and care service delivery in different ways, including workflow, care coordination, and patient condition management. Beyond the healthcare sector, consumers are equally using technology to support care delivery, which has positively influenced nursing outcomes. The review has shown that nursing informatics is the best channel for improving patient outcomes, protecting healthcare information, improving the flow of work, and improving organizational goals.
References for NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 1 Nursing Informatics in Health Care Paper
- ANA. (2021). Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice, 2nd Ed. Nursing World. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3fufIjF
- Butler, M. (2015). Workaday informatics: How healthcare is applying practical informatics to save dollars and lives. J AHIMA., 86, 18e2
- Byrne, M. (2019). A nurse’s guide to enhancing clinical technologies. J Perianesth Nurs., 34, 1069e1073.
- Byrne, M.D. (2021). Nursing Informatics Specialist: Role in the Perianesthesia Environment. Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing, 36, 90-92. DOI: 10.2196/medinform.8734
- Jumreornvong, O., Yang, E., Race, J., & Appel, J. (2020). Telemedicine and Medical Education in the Age of COVID-19. Acad Med., 10, 10.
- Kruse, C. S., Krowski, N., Rodriguez, B., Tran, L., Vela, J., & Brooks, M. (2017). Telehealth and patient satisfaction: a systematic review and narrative analysis. BMJ Open., 7(8), e016242.
- Zadvinskis, I.M., Smith, J.G., & Yen, P-Y. (2018). Nurses’ Experience with Health Information Technology: Longitudinal Qualitative Study. JMIR Med Inform., 6(2), e38. https://doi.org/10.2196/medinform.8734
Nursing Informatics in Healthcare Example 2
Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist
Healthcare organizations rely massively upon information and data to provide quality care to the proximal patient populations. For instance, data from patient records, outputs from electrocardiograms, radiographs, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) scans provide justifications for care delivery. According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2018), valuable information in healthcare should exhibit various characteristics, including accessibility, security, timeliness, accuracy, utility, verifiability, and relevancy. It is essential to note that an absence of valuable information and data compromises healthcare professionals’ ability to provide timely, convenient, patient-centered, evidence-based, and effective care. As a result, healthcare institutions perceive the need to enhance the role of nursing informaticists to leverage nursing informatics effectively.
What is nursing informatics?
Nursing informatics integrates data, information, knowledge, and wisdom into nursing to improve practices and enhance decisions. Although the definition of nursing informatics (NI) has undergone revisions due to the consistent advancement in information management approaches, the American Nurses Association (ANA) defines NI as “the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice” (Kassam et al., 2017, p. 1). Based on this definition, it is valid to argue that nursing informatics supports interprofessional healthcare teams in their decisions, roles, and settings to realize strategic goals and desired outcomes.
What is the role of the nurse informaticist?
The American Nurses Association (ANA) presents nursing informatics as a specialty that integrates data, information, knowledge, and wisdom into nursing practice. As a result, nurse informaticists are specialists tasked with effectively integrating these components into healthcare practices and processes. According to Hebda et al. (2019), informatics specialists have advanced skills specific to health information management and computer technology. They assist organizations in implementing new information technologies, assessing data quality, and using information systems. Also, nurse informaticists educate other employees on new systems, technologies, and workflows. Finally, they significantly enhance data security, privacy, and confidentiality by guiding healthcare organizations and professionals to implement various data safeguards, including physical, technical, and administrative data protection mechanisms.
Nurse Informaticists and Other Healthcare Organizations
Healthcare organizations benefit from the integration of nursing informatics into clinical practices and processes. Hebda et al. (2019) contend that nurse informaticists have advanced health information and computer skills that enable healthcare organizations to manage information and integrate data, knowledge, and wisdom into nursing practices. The benefits of enhancing the role of nurse informaticists include improved patient care, ensuring data privacy, security, and confidentiality, efficient workflows, and increased return on investment.
How nurse informaticists interact with the rest of the nursing staff and interdisciplinary team
Nurse informaticists participate effectively in interdisciplinary approaches for improving the integration of information, data, knowledge, and wisdom into nursing practice. Therefore, they collaborate and interact with the rest of the nursing staff members, including nurses, physicians, organizational leaders, and IT experts, in various activities, including triaging, implementing new technologies, and improving systems. According to Kassam, Nangle, and Strudwick (2017), nurse informaticists guide and support others in applying advanced knowledge and technologies like clinical decision support systems and genomics. Their interactions with other team members facilitate the integration of knowledge, data, information, and wisdom into nursing practice.
Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Healthcare Technology
Improved Patient Care
Nurses play a forefront role in providing quality care. However, technology developers often exclude them when implementing health technologies. According to Dykes & Chu (2020), nurses understand care demands, intricacies of patient populations, organizational structures, and infection control practices. Therefore, their full involvement in healthcare technology should inform the innovation process from idea generation to diffusion. It is essential to note that involving nurses in healthcare technology can improve patient care by eliminating medication errors, improving care processes, and promoting timely and convenient care delivery.
Protected Health Information
Equally, involving nurses in healthcare technology can improve interventions for protecting health information and ensuring data security, privacy, and confidentiality. Dykes & Chu (2020) contend that nurses understand organizational systems, including system functionality and information interoperability dimensions. As a result, involving them in healthcare technology can bolster interdisciplinary interventions for ensuring data security, privacy, and confidentiality. According to Kruse et al. (2017), healthcare organizations should implement technical, physical, and administrative data safeguards to avert and recover from cybersecurity threats, including phishing, ransomware, hacking, and system disruptions. Nurses’ involvement in healthcare technology can promote the effectiveness of various protective interventions, including data and system encryption, regular risk assessments, development of security and recovery plans, and other technical and administrative mechanisms for securing data. Improved
Workflow
The failure to involve nurses in healthcare technologies can hinder systems’ functionality and outcomes. Improved workflows mean effective, timely, and convenient care practices and processes. According to Alolayyan et al. (2020), advanced technologies such as electronic health records systems (EHRS) save time, improve queue management, and enable healthcare professionals to prevent mistakes, including medication errors. Therefore, involving nurses in healthcare technology can contribute to smooth operations and translate to convenient workflows.
Reduced Costs and Increased Return on Investment
Initially, technology developers excluded nurses from healthcare technology because of the prioritization of cost over functionality and the perception that nurses lacked prerequisite technological knowledge and skills. However, it is essential to note that involving nurses in healthcare technology can reduce the costs of implementing new technologies and systems by improving systems’ functionality and reducing the subsequent necessity for workarounds (Dykes & Chu, 2020). Further, nurses’ participation in all stages of implementing healthcare technologies can facilitate the return on investment by reducing medication errors, improving workflows, promoting patient care, and saving on the costs of compensating for medication errors.
Opportunities and Challenges
The nursing informatics specialty is ever-expanding due to the overarching need to integrate knowledge, evidence, data, and wisdom into nursing practices. Similarly, the need to leverage nursing informatics prompts nurses to familiarize themselves with emerging health information technologies like big data, data mining, and free-text analytics (Hebda et al., 2019). While these current developments present ideal opportunities for the advanced role of nurse informaticists, healthcare organizations face various challenges when integrating nursing informatics into practice. Mitchell and Khan (2019) argue that resource constraints, staff shortages, and a lack of appropriate skill mix are challenges facing healthcare organizations when integrating new technologies into clinical practices. Therefore, it is vital to address these constraints to capitalize on the limitless emerging opportunities for nursing informatics.
Summary of Recommendations
Undoubtedly, nurse informaticists play a significant role in improving the integration of advanced health technologies, health information, data, knowledge, and wisdom into nursing practice. The possibility of leveraging nursing informatics and health technology translates to multiple benefits, including enhanced queue management, prevention of medication errors, improved decisions, and supporting the tenets of evidence-based practice. Secondly, nurse informaticists collaborate with other staff members to oversee and promote the implementation of new technologies and systems. Interprofessional collaboration contributes to convenient workflows, nurses’ involvement in healthcare technology, and improved patient care. As a result, the organization should hire a nursing informaticist to capitalize on these opportunities and realize the return on investment for healthcare informatics and information technologies.
NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 1 Nursing Informatics in Health Care Paper References
Alolayyan, M., Alyahya, M., Alalawin, A., Shoukat, A., & Nusairat, F. (2020). Health information technology and hospital performance the role of health information quality in teaching hospitals. Heliyon, 6(10), e05040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05040
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
Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P. (2019). Handbook of informatics for nurses and healthcare professionals (6th ed.). Pearson
Kassam, I., Nagle, L., & Strudwick, G. (2017). Informatics competencies for nurse leaders: protocol for a scoping review. BMJ Open, 7(12), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018855
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
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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