Nursing Informatics in Health Care

Nursing Informatics in Health Care

The management of health information and patient records within the healthcare environment, especially in nursing, has shifted from manual paper-based systems to electronic health information management systems. These health information management systems (HIS), such as electronic health record (EHR) systems, have the potential to improve the safety, quality, wait times, and efficiency of care delivery and the costs of care (Rainer & Prince, 2021). However, there is a need to equip nursing professionals with the required skills to manage these new technology information and communication systems for the management of electronic health information. This is the reason for the formation and development of the nurse informaticist role. Notably, understanding who a nurse informaticist is and their role within the care environment requires understanding what nursing informatics is. Our assignment writing services will allow you to attend to more important tasks as our experts handle your task.

Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist

Defining Nursing Informatics

Nursing informatics is an emerging specialty field in the nursing profession. Nursing informatics integrates nursing skills, nursing science, and information technology systems to support the improvement of how care services are delivered. As a specialty field in nursing, nurses are trained and equipped with technical knowledge and expertise to use technological systems to collect, analyze, manage, and store patient data and information (Strudwick et al., 2019). These actions help improve the efficiency of workflow within care settings. From this description of what nursing informatics entails, a nurse informaticist is, therefore, a nurse who specializes in the development, use, and application of technology within the care environment to support and enhance care delivery, quality, and safety of care (Reid et al., 2021).

The Role of the Nurse Informaticist

As a nurse working within a specialized nursing field, a nurse informaticist is expected to help the organization set up, develop, and implement these HIS, especially EHRs, and other healthcare communication technologies such as telemedicine to help improve the efficiency of nursing practice (Strudwick et al., 2019). The nurse informaticist will also become the educator and trainer of the other healthcare professionals on how to use the HIS. They will also continuously conduct market research on new systems and development and be equipped with software engineering systems to continuously develop the hospital’s electronic health records and information and communication.

Nurse Informaticists and Other Health Care Organizations

There is an enormous amount of empirical evidence from studies and in real-life settings in other healthcare organizations that prove the significance of having a nurse informaticist role within a healthcare organization. At a large-scale application of HIS, the role of the nurse informaticists has been linked to significant improvements in safety and quality of care. Nurse informatics apply their knowledge and competencies in nursing care and information technology to help nurses and healthcare teams with the management of patient data and information and analyze the data to help develop plans to achieve the desired patient care results (Sensmeier & Anderson, 2020). The nurse informaticist role has been empirically associated with the improvement of the quality and safety of patient care by improving the timeliness and accuracy of care (Reid et al., 2021). For instance, a study in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) showed that nurse informaticists supported the implementation of an EHR system known as the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) to manage big data, which not only improved the management and delivery services but also influenced the quality and safety of care (Deckro et al., 2021). Therefore, nurses within other healthcare organizations are considered critical to the delivery of safe and quality patient care.

Nurse informaticists interact with the rest of the nursing staff and the interdisciplinary team in a number of ways. First, the nurse informaticist being the trainer and educator of other health professionals, interacts with other health professionals during training. They also interact with other nurses and interdisciplinary teams during systems diagnosis, system updates, and the collection of useful feedback from the users. The nurse informaticist is also expected to influence the full adoption of electronic systems within health settings. Therefore, they interact with other nurses and care teams as they teach them the need for such systems.

Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology

Engaging nurses fully in health care technology significantly impacts the delivery of nursing care. Firstly, it improves the quality and safety of patient care (Sensmeier & Anderson, 2020). Healthcare technology in nursing supports nursing decisions and reduces the occurrence of errors during patient care. Full engagement of nurses in healthcare technology also improves the safety of patients’ protected health information. Nurses’ continued use of technology systems helps them understand how to improve the security of the systems, including data access and secure sharing. Two evidence-based strategies nurse informaticists and interdisciplinary teams use to protect and manage the privacy and confidentiality of protected health information are user authentication for access and encryption. The use of data encryption technologies is noted as a countermeasure for data security and privacy issues within data storage systems (Yang et al., 2020). Besides improved data security and privacy, engaging nurses fully in healthcare technology improves the efficiency of workflow as it allows for remote sharing and access to patient and disease data and information. It also reduces delays and the occurrence of errors, therefore reducing the risk of delay-related and unintentional costs. Due to improved workflow efficiency and reduced delays, healthcare technologies reduce operational costs and improve the rate of service delivery, which is good for returns on investment.

Opportunities and Challenges

The nurse informaticist role has the potential to digitize the facility’s health delivery processes. The role presents a big opportunity to improve workflow across the facility. This will help see an improvement in how nurses and other health care collaborate in the delivery of patient care services. The nurses and physicians across the various departments will be able to share, access, edit, update, and retrieve patient data in real time, regardless of their location. However, the challenges for the nursing informaticist are the costs of setting up new HIS, training users without a background in ICT, and the risks to data privacy and confidentiality associated with the use of digital systems. Additionally, the use has been linked to physician and nurse stress and burnout in cases where users lack related skills (Gardner et al., 2019). However, the interdisciplinary team can collaborate to improve quality care outcomes through technology by ensuring that they collectively understand how the systems work and share patient data in real-time and as needed.

Summary of Recommendations

In conclusion, the nursing informatics role is a critical addition to the facility’s teams aimed at improving workflow and efficiency of healthcare services delivery (Sensmeier & Anderson, 2020). The nurse informaticist role will also support and improve interdisciplinary collaboration, patient monitoring, and tracking, reducing care and operation costs (Wang et al., 2019). From the above proposal for the establishment of the nurse informaticist role, it is recommended that the facility makes use of the role to shift from analog paper-based systems to digital systems and support the nurse informaticist in implementing and training users on the new system.

References

Deckro, J., Phillips, T., Davis, A., Hehr, A. T., & Ochylski, S. (2021). Big Data in the Veterans Health Administration: A Nursing Informatics Perspective. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 53(3), 288–295. https://doi.org/10.1111/JNU.12631

Gardner, R. L., Cooper, E., Haskell, J., Harris, D. A., Poplau, S., Kroth, P. J., & Linzer, M. (2019). Physician stress and burnout: the impact of health information technology. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 26(2), 106–114. https://doi.org/10.1093/JAMIA/OCY145

Rainer, K. R., & Prince, B. (2021). Introduction to Information Systems (9th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

Reid, L., Maeder, A., Button, D., Breaden, K., & Brommeyer, M. (2021). Defining Nursing Informatics: A Narrative Review. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 284, 108–112. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI210680

Sensmeier, J., & Anderson, C. (2020). Tracking the impact of nursing informatics. Nursing Management, 51(9), 50–53. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000694880.86685.C1

Strudwick, G., Nagle, L., Kassam, I., Pahwa, M., & Sequeira, L. (2019). Informatics Competencies for Nurse Leaders: A Scoping Review. Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(6), 323–330. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000760

Wang, J., Gephart, S. M., Mallow, J., & Bakken, S. (2019). Models of collaboration and dissemination for nursing informatics innovations in the 21st century. Nursing Outlook, 67(4), 419–432. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.OUTLOOK.2019.02.003

Yang, P., Xiong, N., & Ren, J. (2020). Data Security and Privacy Protection for Cloud Storage: A Survey. IEEE Access, 8, 131723–131740. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3009876

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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.

Nursing Informatics in Health Care

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 demonstrate not only 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 healthcare organization and references from relevant and timely scholarly or professional resources to support the justification for creating this nurse informaticist position. The term justifies 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 healthcare 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 points.
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 the 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.