Dr. Carol Romano

The objective of this synthesis paper is to present my readers what I have achieved during my graduate program at American Sentinel University (ASU). It assimilates all my course work, clinical experience, and nursing practice during this time, which presents a complete picture of how I accomplished my Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) consequences and Nursing Informatics track competencies. This paper will pinpoint my personal philosophy of nursing informatics and give a concise summary of my professional achievements, competencies developed during program of studies, and goals for life-long learning as an informatics nurse. The occupation of nursing is considered as both an art and science. Development of nursing comprises evidence‐based practice and fast integration of advances in technology. It is a field that has extensive uses in healthcare, as well as specialty practice. Educational curriculum and degree/certification are choices for nurses to pursue in this exciting field.

2008). Another system focused on patient scheduling in a rehabilitation setting (Ozbolt, J.G., Saba, V.K. 2008). Nurses at a California hosptial assisted in developing the first comprehensive hospital information system and helped integrat the system for nursing care planning, documentation, and feedback (Ozbolt, J.G., Saba, V.K. 2008). They developed the standard care plans that are used throughout the world today (Ozbolt, J.G., Saba, V.K. 2008). Another big achievement of this decade was the introduction of the first commercial electronic medical record (Thede, L. 2012). This new system was patient-oriented and was implemented throughout the hospital (Thede, L. 2012).

The nursing field is caring, dependable, and effective. None of which could be accomplished without teamwork, collaboration and informatics. I believe these concepts are fundamental in the nursing profession. Nurses must work with other healthcare staff, the patients and their families to provide patient-centered and quality care. The use of informatics enhance both the quality of care the clients receive and the teamwork and collaboration aspect of nursing. No one nurse can do it all on their own. Nursing requires the use of teamwork and new technology.

Technological advancement is very rapidly affecting every aspect of life and is making an immense impact in Health Care. My clinical experiences as a staff nurse caring for patients can be effectively integrated with technology in the Nursing Informatics field. To make valuable contributions to the field of Nursing Informatics, I realized that a Graduate degree would be very beneficial. Therefore, I decided to pursue my MSN in Nursing Informatics to achieve my goal of using my skills and knowledge in the best possible way to make effective advancements in the field of nursing informatics for a constructive impact on my patients’ health and my colleagues.

In order to practice as a nurse informatics or NI specialist, one must know and understand the standard to which he or she is held. The purpose and function of scopes and standards of practice for nursing informatics is to provide an overview of the specialty, assist future specialists understand their scope of practice, and practice at a competent level to guide and support nursing care. The scopes and standards of practice further provides an insight into the foundation of clinical decision making processes and cognitive concepts as the nurse moves data to wisdom in the clinical setting. As a NI specialist, the informatics nurse follows the concepts, scopes and standards of practice to guide and define their profession. This paper will further discuss the principles that guides nurse informatics specialist, the scope and standards of practice, professional performance, functional areas for nurse informatics, competencies, evolution, progress, and the future the specialty.

Nursing informatics and technology are quickly becoming the hot buzz words for nursing in the twenty-first century. While performing research for this specific paper, the observations of how far technology has come from its inception is mind boggling. When looking back to the mid 1990’s every patient had paper charting. Nurses manually charted vital signs, nursing notes, treatments and all orders were manually written in the chart. The patient’s name, insurance information, and billing items were stored electronically. Fast forward twenty plus years and everything nurses do with, for or to a patient is filed electronically. This file today is known as the electronic health record (EHR) (Lavin, Harper, & Barr, 2015). This paper will be delving into the history of nursing informatics and technology, the pros and cons for nurses and what will be the big picture for informatics and technology in nursing today and in the future. Nursing informatics and the technology that has evolved over time are changing and quickly affecting how nurses treat, communicate, plan and document everything that they do for their patients.

Informatics is a specialty in the nursing field that is combined with certain science. As stated by ANA (2008) “nursing informatics (NI) is a specialty that integrates nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice” (p. 65). ANA further focus on the functional areas rather than the role that guides the scope of practice within NI. These functional areas include: “administration, leadership, and management; analysis; compliance and integrity management; consultation; coordination, facilitation, and integration; development; educational and professional development; research and evaluation; policy development and advocacy; and telehealth” (CCN, 2015, para. 1). With these functional areas in mind, a nursing informatics specialist can perform proficiently, depending on the specific task. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to summarize the result of an interview with a NI specialist and analyze the differences and similarities between the interviewee’s functional areas with that of scholarly ones.

My interviewee obtained her Master’s in Informatics at the University of Phoenix in 2013. Transitioning into the Master’s program was seamless since this school was where she obtained her BSN. The online route was most efficient and that is the route she pursued. The University of Phoenix Master of Science in nursing degree program is accredited by the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education (University of Phoenix, 2014). The goal of this program is to equip nurses to function in leadership roles in a variety of settings. Additionally, nursing theories and evidence-based practices are fundamental guidelines in this program that will help shape the future of nursing thus impacting the health care system (University of Phoenix, 2014). More specifically, the informatics program afford students to gain knowledge in data management and information technology in regard to the health care setting (University of Phoenix, 2014).

b) One of the national forces that have influenced the direction of nursing informatics is the Institute of Medicine (IOM), which has written core competencies for all health care professionals including nurses (Pritchard, 2015). The programs devised by the the Institute of Medicine aims to teach health care professionals to be better at knowing how to manage information accurately and how to use computers to make the information available to all disciplines in order to achieve better patient outcomes. On the other hand, the National Center for Nursing Research (NCNR) is one nursing force that has influenced the direction of informatics (Pritchard, 2015). This agency has created program goals and for nurses and competencies

Many job titles or description can be associated with the position of an informatics nurse specialist (INS). According to Sweeney (2010), there is no single job description for an individual with a graduate level of education in the informatics field. Furthermore, the author stated that job titles and/or description of an INS varies with each employing organization. However, expected activities should include responsibilities such as administration, project management, software development, analysis, designing and implementing educational programs, consulting, program evaluation and research, and management and leadership (Sweeney, 2010). This implies that an INS should have the skills and knowledge to meaningfully use current technologies to convey and coordinate care across various settings. The purpose of this paper is to summarize three job descriptions, analyze these job descriptions, and make recommendations for improving one of the summarized job description to meet current employer recruitment strategies.

Nursing informatics is a branch of nursing or area of specialty that concentrates on finding ways to improve data management and communication in nursing with the sole objective of improving efficiency, reduction of health costs, and enhancement of the quality of patient care (Murphy, 2010). It is also described as a growing area of nursing specialty that combines computer science, information technology, and nursing science in the management and processing of nursing information, data, and knowledge with the sole objective of supporting nursing practice and research. Various nursing theorists have formulated various theoretical frameworks or models related to nursing informatics (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013), and they are defined as a

With the rapid growth in the implementation and use of electronic medical records, there is an increase in how we define the role of nurses and other team member’s (Deese & Stien, 2004). Along with providing optimal care, nurses are also responsible for interpreting and accurately documenting large amounts of information. According to, (Ericksen, 2009) nursing informatics is defined as the integration of nursing, its information, and information management with information processing and communication technology to support the health of people worldwide. In this

Sir, can you please step up to the glass, put your palm on the screen and follow the directions from the computer? This is where our future lies…in biometrics, computers, and science. Soon there will be no need to fill out tedious paperwork, to try to remember medications or past medical history. I know it exists in hospitals across America, I have seen it in action many times. Are we as nurses changing with the times? What is nursing informatics? Why is it important to me? How do I rate on the nursing informatics knowledge scale? What is my plan to increase my knowledge base? These questions should be at the forefront of every nurse’s thoughts. The information age has come crashing down on us from every possible angle in our lives, it

According to Dr. Ken Majowski (Laureate, 2011) health care informatics has been in existence for at least the past two to three decades. Ozbolt & Saba (2008) state that “in the second half of the 20th century” the focus of nursing informatics was on the development of “a standardized language” (p. 199). In the 1970’s, informatics included “nursing care planning and documentation” (Ozbolt & Saba, 2008, p. 200). In the 1980’s, nursing informatics research and education led to the “establishment of data standards … unleashing the potential of nursing informatics to improve practice” thus giving nursing the opportunity to “translate knowledge to practice via decision support, and to create new knowledge from the data generated in nursing practice” (Ozbolt & Saba, 2008, p 201). In the 1990’s the “Nursing Terminology Summit Conferences” met “to develop concept-oriented reference terminology models for nursing” (Ozbolt & Saba, 2008, p. 203). The 2000’s proved to be a decade of additional progress with the call for “an electronic health record” for every

As technology has and continues to advance so will the expansion of nursing informatics. Data from (19th annual 2008 himss leadership survey, 2008) hold this statement true showing a steady increase in the implementation of technologies. As computers became smaller, it became easier and efficient for hospitals and physicians office to implement their use. (sutton, 2007)The first computers were large, expensive, and inefficient. Now, computers are compact, inexpensive, and efficient. The smaller technology allows for portability of information. PDA’s are small enough to fit in your pocket. With these small devices, you can look up a patients medication, drug interactions, side effects, and just about anything, you could think of to