Nursing Informatics and Nurse Informaticist
What is nursing informatics?
Nursing informatics is a nursing field that incorporates computer, information sciences, and nursing to develop and maintain medical systems and data. The field aims at improving patient outcomes and the practice of nursing. Besides, the American Nurses Association (ANA) defines nursing informatics as a specialty that integrates science with various information and analytical sciences while identifying, defining, managing and communicating knowledge, data, wisdom, and information in the practice of nursing (Hübner et al., 2018). Resultantly, some technologies such as computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have evolved.
A quick breakdown of what nursing informatics entails can also be found in the you tube video by Nursing Informatics.
The role of the nurse informaticist
Nursing informaticists rarely interact directly with patients. However, they play an important role in improving their outcomes in various ways. For instance, nursing informacists align the best practices of nursing with clinical care and workflows. According to Darvish et al. (2014), nursing informacists apply the best practices of nursing to enhance patient care through process design, clinical workflow reviews, new diagnostics, and treatment plans.
Further, the use of technology enables nursing informaticists to enhance decision support systems while assisting physicians to solve problems that demand specific decisions. In this regard, they formulate knowledge in the system through show notes, critical treatment plans, and prescriptions. (Darvish et al., 2014). Nursing informacists also help to effectively adjust workflows and scale care delivery. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic has induced drastic increase in telehealth visits which has seen nursing informacists work with physicians and other stakeholders to modify systems and existing workflows to effectively capture consent while documenting the visits. These professionals design and test technology and workflows to while simultaneously training the end users before implementation. In other words, nursing informacists are valuable assets in adjusting systems for effective delivery of services and improving patient outcomes in times of crisis, through technology.
The experience of other health care organizations with nurse informaticists
Nursing informaticists are believed to transform healthcare and nursing practices in various ways such as management, research areas and education. Among the organizations that reported positive impacts of engaging nursing informacists in their practices include four teaching and referral hospitals affiliated with Kerman University of Medical Sciences in Kerman – Iran. The organizations reported improvement in the quality and efficiency of medical services and care through reduced clinical errors and risks (Farokhzadian et al., 2020). Care provided through technology depicts more accuracy with higher safety and quality outcomes. Such is through giving nurses a sense of control over the patients’ conditions while reducing clinical errors (Farokhzadian et al., 2020). The organizations also reported increased staff safety. Nursing experience a feeling of confidence with all the documents available, and impossible to manipulate from the HIS. Resultantly, nurses feel at ease to deliver their services without the fear of confrontation hence giving their best to improve patient outcomes.
How nurse informaticists interact with the rest of the nursing staff and the interdisciplinary team
Nurse informacists interact with other staff in multiple ways. For instance, for them to recommend and implement new systems, they interact with nurses and physicians to collect relevant information. They also interact with the management staff to identify the possible gaps that require correction for better performance (Hübner et al., 2018). Before implementing new systems, they also interact with other staff to communicate the purpose of change and the intended change of practice while training the staff on how to work with the systems. They also monitor the progress of the systems by enquiring the experience from other staff to assess the quality of systems.
Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology
How does fully engaging nurses in health care technology impact:
1. Patient care?
Engaging nurses in healthcare technology impacts patient care in various ways. Firstly, it leads to decreased human error .It makes data easily accessible to nurses hence enabling them to provide timely services to the patients. Additionally, technology takes care of the nursing shortage witnessed in most countries due to prolonged mental and physical exhaustion causing nurses to resign. Technology in nursing requires fewer nurses to deliver adequate care while reaching geographically disadvantaged areas.
2. Protected health information (security, privacy, and confidentiality)
Technology allows most of the patient information to be fed in electronic health records (EHRs) which improves the accuracy and clarity of medical records. The ability to rapidly communicate patient information in a legible format ensures security of information. Increased legibility also decreases the risk of unauthorized access of patient information, hence ensuring confidentiality (Hübner et al., 2018). Besides, technology allows the use of user identity which ensures that only authorized personnel can access patient information. Besides, technology has gradually reduced paper-based nursing systems to integrate the use of passwords in accessing health information.
3. Workflow?
Advancements in telehealth play and essential role in ensuring continuous workflow. Telecommunication systems ensure that nurses provide their services to the patients separated geographically through remote monitoring, mobile health apps, and video conferencing. Those in remote areas can access quality care without necessarily travelling to the healthcare facilities. Further, the ability to share information ensures that nurses are not interrupted by incidences such as absenteeism of staff members maybe due to emergencies. Nurses can still access information and provide services without necessarily consulting other physicians.
4. Costs and return on investment?
The aspect of minimizing errors reduces costs while increasing return on investment. Such is through the use of bar codes to verify patient identifications which ensures that the every treatment is accorded to the right patient. This minimizes the cases of mistaken identity which would cause wrong treatment, leading to the need for extra treatments or even hospital admissions. Besides, such errors could result in chaos between patients and healthcare organizations as they take legal actions against them for misdiagnosis.
5. Opportunities and Challenges
The integration of nursing informacists presents crucial opportunities including achieving quality outcomes for patients. Such improves organizational image. It also improves coordinated care to eliminate process breakdowns. Nevertheless, challenges include the difficulties in adjusting to new systems implemented by nursing informatics. Embracing a change may prove difficult hence affecting the quality of services by nurses and other interdisciplinary team. To improve quality care outcomes through technology, the interdisciplinary team can collaborate by allowing staff members to go for training to grasp the skills in turns. Such ensures that the staff is equipped with the relevant skills to apply while delivering their services.
Summary of Recommendations
The CNO and HR manager should remember various benefits of nursing informaticists and consider the role for implementation. Among these include selecting and testing of new medical services. Nursing informaticists engage in quality research of systems and technologies before consideration. Hence, it is important to note that systems are only recommended after proof of their requisite impact on outcomes (Mohammed, 2018). Nursing informatics also improves coordinated care to enhance patient outcomes. High levels of collaboration are evident through nursing informatics ensuring smooth workflow. Further, nursing informatics ensures a holistic approach to patients’ needs. Such is through providing quality services to patients regardless of their geographical location through telehealth systems. This enhances patient experience while ensuring that a large number of patients is reached, compared to non-use of technology. Generally, the benefits of nursing informatics cannot be underestimated and hence should be considered for implementation.
References
Darvish, A., Bahramnezhad, F., Keyhanian, S., & Navidhamidi, M. (2014). The role of nursing informatics on promoting quality of health care and the need for appropriate education. Global journal of health science, 6(6), 11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4825491/
Farokhzadian, J., Khajouei, R., Hasman, A., & Ahmadian, L. (2020). Nurses’ experiences and viewpoints about the benefits of adopting information technology in health care: a qualitative study in Iran. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 20(1), 1-12. https://bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12911-020-01260-5
Hübner, U., Shaw, T., Thye, J., Egbert, N., de Fatima Marin, H., Chang, P., … & Ball, M. J. (2018). Technology informatics guiding education reform–TIGER. Methods of information in medicine, 57(S 01), e30-e42.
Mohammed, H. M. (2018). New Technology in Nursing Education and Practice. Zagazig Nursing Journal, 14(1), 233-239.