Nursing Informatics in Healthcare Sample Essay

Nursing Informatics in Healthcare Sample Essay

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.

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.

APA formatting: Be sure to follow APA formatting and style guidelines for citations and references.

Nursing Informatics in Healthcare Sample Essay

The 2022 Future of Healthcare report showcases the findings of a study conducted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) to investigate the advancements and shifts that shape the healthcare industry today. Providers and health system leaders highlighted current plans for digital transformation and efforts to improve the provision of personalized care (Health Information and Management Systems Society, 2022). A significant component of the digital transformation process relates to the development of a proper health information management system that allows for effective collection, sharing, and analysis of patient information to facilitate decision-making during care delivery. The availability of accurate longitudinal patient records that contain patients’ medical information from different treatment sites, physicians, clinics, hospitals, and labs provides a complete outlook of their health history and avails information that could help improve patient outcomes (Opentext, 2017). Effective management of patient information in any organization relies on the availability of resources including a professional health informaticist to oversee the processes of data collection, storage, analysis, and data transmission.

Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist

Nursing informatics refers to the integration of nursing information, technology, information science, and cognitive science to enhance the management of healthcare knowledge, data, and information and improve patient care and positively impact the nursing profession. Nurses have the core responsibility to provide quality and safe care to patients. However, they can only deliver their duties through the use of innovative healthcare and information technologies that allow them to make informed decisions based on accurate patient information. Effective identification and implementation of healthcare and information technology within an organization requires the knowledge of a nurse informaticist. Different organizations have varying healthcare information management needs. It is, therefore, the role of a nurse informaticist to assess the specific needs of the organization and identify the appropriate technology that matches the requirements and helps to improve the quality and safety of patient care. Nurse informaticists also engage in staff training to ensure other professionals know the effective use of information and communication technologies in the organization.

Nursing Informatics and Other Health Care Organizations

Nurse informaticists play significant roles in different healthcare organizations. Observations from other organizations show that the role is key to quality and safe patient care. The presence of a staff member who understands the information management system and has nursing knowledge and experience makes it easy for other staff members to comprehend the dynamics of data management as it relates to patient records. Furthermore, the nurse informaticist acts as a resource person, allowing other professionals to make inquiries and enhance their knowledge regarding e-healthcare information management (Taylor, 2019). IT staff members in the organizations address the technical challenges facing the information management system. However, a nurse informaticist is necessary to answer specific questions relating to patient data such as explaining the charting program used to assess patent data.

The nurse informaticist acts as a link between the organization’s management, nursing staff, other healthcare professionals, and the IT staff. Mcrbride and Tietze (2019) explain that a nurse informaticist completes an interdisciplinary team within the healthcare setting. The staff member works with other members of the interprofessional healthcare team to make informed decisions and achieve the desired outcomes. Nurse informaticists understand the roles of IT staff members in the organization. Additionally, they have knowledge and experience in nurse practice. They, therefore, create a connection between the IT staff and other professionals. The nurse informaticist also interacts with other staff members during training sessions.

Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Healthcare Technology

The full engagement of nurses in healthcare technology has a positive impact on patient care and health outcomes. Healthcare technologies within organizations are varied and they include portable monitors, electronic health records, and wearable health monitoring devices, among others. The technologies improve the ways that healthcare professionals provide care to patients. Therefore, the engagement of nurses in the use of these technologies to care for patients enables them to quickly and efficiently deliver greater patient experience and produce better health outcomes. The technologies handle routine duties, allowing the nurses to focus on other valuable responsibilities, which improves patient satisfaction (Elrick, 2017). Additionally, the use of technology reduces the risk of making errors while caring for patients.

The use of healthcare information technologies to deliver care necessitates nurses to understand the concepts of confidentiality, security, and privacy. HIPAA laws govern the management and utilization of patient information by healthcare organizations such as providers and insurance companies. The privacy rule of the act necessitates healthcare providers to obtain informed consent from patients before sharing their patient health information. Therefore, nurses have a role to play in protecting patient information by not sharing it without patient consent. They must also learn basic computer security policies such as having strong passwords and not sharing the passwords with third parties.

Kruse et al. (2017) elaborate on evidence-based measures that help healthcare professionals to manage protected patient information. They explain that the strategies fall under different categories including administrative, physical, and technical safeguards. Some of the technical safeguards include role-based security, encryption, firewalls, decryption, use of privacy-enhancing technology, user ID/passwords, and anti-virus software. Administrative safeguards include annual risk assessments, employing HIPAA consultants, training personnel about disaster recovery, and setting policies to govern social media use among staff members. Lastly, physical safeguards include the installation of radio frequency identification (RFID), controlling physical access, and installation of tamper-proof equipment.

The use of technology among nurses increases workflow efficiency. The presence of a well-designed information system technology helps nurses to quickly assess a patient’s medical history, exchange information effectively, and assess knowledge and resources to aid in decision-making. Quinn (2017) explains that a health information management system increases workflow efficiency by allowing nurses to focus on more complex tasks while repetitive ones are handled by the technologies. This enhances their ability to deliver a higher level of patient-centered care. Additionally, when nurses use technology during care delivery, they reduce costs associated with different clinical problems such as medication errors. Devin, Cleary & Cullinan (2020) provide that healthcare technologies minimize some of the common clinical problems. For instance, they explain that health information technology improves patient safety by lowering prescription errors. The global economy loses about $42 billion due to medication errors. Therefore, the use of informatics could help lower the costs.

Opportunities and Challenges

The interdisciplinary team and other nurses have multiple opportunities following the creation of the nurse informaticist role in the organization. The nurse informaticist researches on, identifies, and participates in implementing healthcare information technologies. The technologies improve care quality and safety, increase workflow and efficiency, and ease staff members of some duties. One of the opportunities for the interdisciplinary team to improve the quality of care through such technology is to receive training from the nurse informaticist. Opentext (2017) explains that nurse informaticists are effective in creating educational programs that address specific gaps in care delivery. Additionally, the nurse informaticist could help to increase buy-in from other staff members during change implementation. Some of the professionals and staff members resist change. Hence, the presence of a nurse informaticist helps to address their concerns and fears and reduce their resistance to change. However, the interdisciplinary team may experience challenges with the introduction of a nurse informaticist. The lack of effective collaborative strategies limits the ability of the team to benefit from the nurse informaticist.

The interdisciplinary team must embrace real-time communication to enhance collaboration among them and improve the quality of care. Effective collaboration requires effective and real-time sharing of information through information technologies to enhance decision-making. The technologies ensure that all members have access to relevant information necessary to deliver care to patients. This reduces errors and enables the team to provide greater patient-centered care.

Recommendations and Conclusion

Changes in healthcare systems cause adjustments in the roles and duties of healthcare professionals. The IT staff members have in the past played key roles in educating staff members about the use of healthcare technologies within organizations. However, creating a nurse informaticist position in the organization establishes a link between healthcare professionals and IT staff. A nurse informaticist has nursing experience and technical knowledge regarding the use of healthcare technologies. Therefore, the person helps IT staff to implement the technologies and educates healthcare professionals on how to use them. Therefore, creating the position of a nurse informaticist in the organization enhances communication and knowledge sharing between and within disciplines, and results in improved patient care. Additionally, health informaticists help to address healthcare challenges hence reducing costs associated with clinical challenges. They can engage in research, identify problems and care gaps, and recommend solutions to the problems. Also, the nurse informaticist enhances change management by increasing buy-in among healthcare professionals.

References

Devin, J., Cleary, B. J., & Cullinan, S. (2020). The impact of health information technology on prescribing errors in hospitals: a systematic review and behavior change technique analysis. Systematic reviews, 9(1), 1-17. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-020-01510-7

Elrick, L. (2017). Technology in Nursing: How Electronics Are Changing the Field. Retrieved

January 16, 2020, from https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/nursing/blog/technology-in-nursing/

Health Information and Management Systems Society. (2022). Intelligence and new trends revealed in 2022 future of healthcare report. https://www.himss.org/resources/intelligence-and-new-trends-revealed-2022-future-healthcare-report

Kruse, C. S., Smith, B., Vanderlinden, H., & Nealand, A. (2017). Security techniques for the electronic health records. Journal of medical systems, 41(8), 1-9. doi: 10.1007/s10916-017-0778-4

McBride, S., & Tietze, M. (2019). Nursing informatics for the advanced practice nurse: patient safety, quality, outcomes, and interprofessionalism. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Opentext. (2017). The history of health information management-from then to now. https://blogs.opentext.com/history-heath-information-management-now/

Quinn, J. (2017). Five Ways Healthcare Informatics Help Nurses.

Taylor, D. D. (2019). A Day in the Life of a Nurse Informaticist. Journal of Informatics Nursing, 4(1), 18-20.