Nursing Informatics in Health Care

Nursing Informatics in Health Care

Healthcare providers should leverage technology to improve management. Nurse informaticists enable healthcare facilities to embrace technology and improve information use. This paper discusses the role of nurse informaticists and explores their impact on other healthcare facilities. Also, the paper evaluates the impact of health technology on patient care, workflow, healthcare costs, and protected health information.

Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist

Booth et al. (2022) report that nursing informatics (NI) entails leveraging technology to optimize the management of health information in nursing practice. NI aims to lower healthcare costs and optimize the health of the local community (Booth et al., 2022). NI has played a key role in the evolution of technologies such as electrical medical records and computerized physician order entry (Booth et al., 2022). NI focuses on three main aspects. Firstly, it focuses on data, which refers to raw facts that have not been interpreted (Booth et al. 2022). Secondly, it focuses on information that results from data interpretation. Thirdly, it focuses on knowledge. A collection of diverse information enables nurses to gain pertinent knowledge to tackle healthcare issues.

Nurse informaticists collaborate with other members of the interdisciplinary team to accomplish various roles. To begin with, they oversee the continuous development and implementation of new technology (Zareshahi et al., 2022). They accomplish this by training interdisciplinary team members, addressing their concerns, and monitoring their progress with the new technology. Furthermore, they play a key role in validating the quality of data (Zareshahi et al., 2022). Notably, they focus on the data volume, variety, and velocity. They identify the available volume of data and the type of data that can be leveraged to optimize the decision-making process. Regarding velocity, nurse informaticists promote the timely sharing of data to facilitate the prompt delivery of healthcare services. Regarding variety, they identify key data that should be included to provide comprehensive information to promote the decision-making process. In addition, Booth et al. (2022) report that nurse informaticists develop new processes or procedures that seek to optimize workflow and improve healthcare.

Nurse Informaticists and Other Health Care Organizations

Zippia (2022) reports that females account for about 76 percent, whereas males account for about 24 percent of nurse informaticists in the USA. Notably, 49 percent of this population has a bachelor’s degree, whereas 27 percent has a master’s degree (Zippia, 2022). The percentage of the population that has pursued associate and diploma degrees is 21 and 3 percent, respectively (Zippia, 2022). Nurse informaticists work in various sectors. Zippia (2022) reports that about 73 percent of the population works in private institutions, 18 percent work in the public sector, whereas 8 percent work in the education sector.

Reports from other healthcare facilities reveal the importance of nurse informaticists. They are key in training the interdisciplinary team on informatics (Peltonen et al., 2019). Training creates a skillful and knowledgeable team to optimize the quality of care. Also, they play a key role in improving workflow (Booth et al., 2022). They accomplish this by formulating new processes and policies and emphasizing the necessity for the changes. For example, processes or policies that advocate for comprehensive history-taking using electronic health record systems are associated with improved healthcare services. Furthermore, Peltonen et al. (2019) report that they uphold the appropriate use of technology in the workplace. Health technology improves data management and processing and minimizes medical errors.

Nurse informaticists interact with the interdisciplinary team via in-person and virtual meetings. These interactions allow them to train and educate members of the interdisciplinary team about new technology and processes. In addition, the interaction allows nurse informaticists to evaluate the interdisciplinary team’s performance and provide timely feedback (Zareshahi et al., 2022). By so doing, the interdisciplinary team remains committed to providing quality healthcare. In-person interaction leverages approaches such as pamphlets, handouts, and PowerPoint presentations. On the other hand, virtual interactions leverage videoconferencing.

Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology

Patient Care

Healthcare technology impacts patient care. Firstly, it minimizes medical errors and improves patient safety. Medical errors are prevented by technologies such as electronic medical records (EMRs), barcodes, and smart infusion pumps. EMRs eliminate overdependence on paperwork and reduce errors related to illegibility. Barcodes and smart infusion pumps minimize errors related to patient identification and dosage (Michalek & Carson, 2020). Secondly, telehealth creates flexibility and allows timely access to healthcare. Telehealth services such as videoconferencing and mobile health allow the patient to access real-time healthcare (Snoswell et al., 2020). On the other hand, remote patient monitoring facilitates continuous patient monitoring.

Protected Health Information

Engaging nurses in health technology will enable them to identify and uphold the privacy, security, and confidentiality of protected health information. Different techniques can be used to protect this information. Data encryption uses a predetermined algorithm to code information (Kok et al., 2019). This information can only be accessed via a specific decryption code. Passcodes prevent access to protected health information by allowing users to set unique codes. These codes combine letters and digits that should be modified periodically. Identity access and management protect information by limiting the type of users who access PHI (Kok et al., 2019). This is accomplished by creating unique accounts and terminating the accounts when they are no longer needed.

Workflow, Costs, and Return on Investment

Health technology optimizes workflow, lowers healthcare costs, and increases returns on investment. Technology such as EMR optimizes workflow by automating services and improving documentation (Snoswell et al., 2020). Barcodes optimize workflow by allowing nurses and the interdisciplinary team to identify patients accurately (Michalek & Carson, 2020). Smart infusion pumps enable nurses to achieve accurate dosages and improve patient safety (Michalek & Carson, 2020). Optimized workflow improves billing and increases reimbursements from insurers. Also, optimized workflow improves the quality of care and patient safety and reduces hospital stays. Subsequently, reduced hospitalizations lower healthcare costs.

Opportunities and Challenges

The role of a nurse informaticist offers numerous opportunities for the interdisciplinary team. Adding a nurse informaticist to the interdisciplinary team will enable interdisciplinary team members to embrace the appropriate use of technology to improve data management (Booth et al., 2022). Data management will improve the team’s clinical decision-making process and enable them to improve healthcare quality. Also, the nurse informaticist role will provide an opportunity for continuous training and education (Booth et al., 2022). By so doing, the team will gain useful skills that will allow them to handle data and information effectively and improve the quality of care. Nonetheless, the interdisciplinary team is likely to experience difficulty with recording data accurately.

The interdisciplinary team should collaborate effectively to optimize healthcare outcomes via technology. Effective collaboration is dependent on periodic training and effective allocation of resources. Training will enable the team to leverage various healthcare technologies effectively. Examples of health technologies that should be leveraged include telehealth, barcodes, EMR, and smart infusion pumps. EMR provides features such as computerized physician order entries that improve documentation and allow the interdisciplinary team to minimize medical errors (Alizadeh et al., 2021). Furthermore, EMRs have clinical decision support systems that allow the interdisciplinary team to formulate evidence-based care plans. Barcodes and smart infusion pumps will enable the team to improve the accuracy of medication administration (Michalek & Carson, 2020).

Summary of Recommendations

Nurse informaticists improve the quality of healthcare by accomplishing various roles. Examples of these roles include continuous development and implementation of new technology, validating the quality of data, and developing new processes or procedures that seek to optimize workflow and improve healthcare (Booth et al., 2022; Zareshahi et al., 2022). The role of nurse informaticists is important to a healthcare organization. This role has benefited the private, public, and education sectors. Notably, nurse informaticists have been involved in training the interdisciplinary team, improving workflow, and upholding the appropriate use of technology in the workplace (Peltonen et al., 2019). As such, the role of a nurse informaticist has enabled other facilities to optimize healthcare, improve patient safety, and lower healthcare costs, justifying the need for nurse informaticists in healthcare organizations.

References

Alizadeh, G., Jafarzadeh, A., & Farough Khosravi, M. (2021). Scoping Review of Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems in Reducing Medical Errors. Evidence-Based Health Policy, Management, and Economics, 5(2), 142–150. https://doi.org/10.18502/jebhpme.v5i2.6559

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

Kok, S. H., Abdullah, A., Jhanjhi, N. Z., & Supramaniam, M. (2019). Ransomware, Threat and Detection Techniques: A Review. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 19(2), 136–146. http://paper.ijcsns.org/07_book/201902/20190217.pdf

Michalek, C., & Carson, S. L. (2020). Implementing barcode medication administration and smart infusion pumps is just the beginning of the safety journey to prevent administration errors. Farmacia Hospitalaria, 44(3), 114–121. https://doi.org/10.7399/fh.11410

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., … 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

Snoswell, C. L., Taylor, M. L., Comans, T. A., Smith, A. C., Gray, L. C., & Caffery, L. J. (2020). Determining if Telehealth Can Reduce Health System Costs: Scoping Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(10), e17298–e17298. https://doi.org/10.2196/17298

Zareshahi, M., Mirzaei, S., & Nasiriani, K. (2022). Nursing informatics competencies in the critical care unit. Health Informatics Journal, 28(1), 146045822210838. https://doi.org/10.1177/14604582221083843

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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 Cares

In all practice areas, nurses at the baccalaureate level 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 national and state regulatory-level decision-making.

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–to 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.