Reflective Journal 4
1. What interested you or excited you the most? What would you like to learn more about at a deeper level beyond course assignments?
• I have to say this weeks’ reading on improving care through data was very interesting to me. I have a passion for people and if there is a way to prevent or diminish suffering I am all for it. I will continue to read deeper into “big data” and what is being done today to better secure it. I will continue to keep myself involved in the process of using dashboard information to shape nursing policy and procedure. I think this goes beyond the hospital I work for, but more towards, nursing informatics, that is both thrilling and scary. This is a big undertaking for me because I have not had a great experience with committees, but I am learning how important it is to have nurses involved. This statement is so true, “...nursing is an information-based profession that provides health care,” (Huston, 2013) and we can’t escape it.
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What would you be able to implement where you work right away?
• I often precept new grads, so I make it my business to test their ability to actually think, without the computer. I have found that their exposure with the latest technology teaches me plenty, but ingraining old school critical thinking is priceless for their careers and the providing of quality care. I will remember the words of nurse O’Hara, “we need to hold on to the essence of nursing..., be educated on everything around us to retain clinical excellence,” (O’Hara, & Ruiter, 2015) we need to model this thinking and be sure those we precept are using it as well.
• I will have to keep digging for the true context of ethics in technology and nursing and caring, it is still a little fuzzy. I think more research is needed to clarify this concept. I also want to sit on the committees that will shape this policy for ethics in technology that provides humanistic care as
However, critical thinking skills must being in nursing school. Institutions must help facilitate higher level of thinking to help evolve critical thinking skills in order to have the best outcomes for their patients. Better outcomes equal higher payouts for the business, so it is in everyone’s best interest to educate their staff and continue to strive for success.
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.
Nursing informatics really gained momentum in the 1980’s. The first national conference on computer technology and nursing was held (Ozbolt, J.G., Saba, V.K. 2008). Scholarships and the first educational courses on Nursing Informatics were introduced into the nursing programs at Boston College, University of New York and University of Utah (Ozbolt, J.G., Saba, V.K. 2008). The growing record of accomplishment allowed nurses to move into managerial roles (Edwards, H. 2011). By the mid ‘80’s, nearly three decades after Nurse Werley pushed for minimum data sets, was the idea finally embraced by nurse professionals (Ozbolt, J.G., Saba, V.K. 2008). Four specific elements of the minimum data set became a standard for nursing care: nursing diagnosis, nursing intervention, nursing outcome and the
As nurse educators, it is important for us to create an environment which will help students to learn effectively. In order to help learning effectively, the nurse educators must implement a variety of teaching strategies applicable to learner needs (NLN, 2005). Reflecting on this competency, I had an opportunity to meet this competency while precepting new graduates to work in operating room. It was challenging as they had no experience at all. I was able to be a role model and motivated them to learn. Each orientee was different, I was able to understand their learning needs and helped them to understand and learn the necessary skills to work in the operating room. Critical thinking is very important while working in the operating room, I provided them opportunities to think critically and reasoning behind the action performed. After starting my
Nursing practice requires both critical thinking and clinical reasoning. Critical thinking is the process of deliberate higher level thinking to define a patient’s problem, examine the evidence-based practice in caring for the patient’s, and make options in the delivery of optimal care. Critical thinking involves the demarcation of statements of fact, judgment, and opinion. The progression of critical thinking requires the nurse to think imaginatively, use reflection, and engage in logical thinking (Alfaro-LeFevre, 2013). Critical thinking is a vital skill needed for the recognition of patient’s
The role of an NI is categorized as a non-clinical advanced nurse. The use of core competencies is an integral part of delivering standardized, measurable, quality healthcare in this day and age. Informatics is a relatively new addition to the APN, and nursing education but an integral part of delivering quality healthcare to patients. In 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) mandated that nurses be key players in transforming and developing the infrastructure that is needed for efficient health information technology (HIT), thus, improving the quality of health care. Presently, informatics is a requirement for all APN 's. In prior decades, informatics was in the embryonic stages of development, but in 1992, the ANA recognised it as a speciality thursting NI to the forefront of nursing education and integerating informatics into the the very core of nursing cirriculum.
RCN (2012) also highlighted the nursing dashboards helps to identify care improvements, keeping track of what nurses are doing great, enables nurses to look and learn from data collectively and having timely and relevant data in their face. In practice, I observed nursing dashboards used for decision making to provide information such as available beds and confirmed discharges. They encourage the work of multidisciplinary because I observed on quite a few occasions nurses engaging with other professionals to make decisions. From the experience, I learnt that nursing boards facilitate on improving the kind of care we deliver as nurses and also enhances nurses' knowledge. The main trending or Key performance indicators (KPIs) were the patient safety tool, patient pathways, patient outcome data, patient complaints and patient surveys just to name a few.
Chaudhry et al. (2006) identified that informatics systems will be necessary in obtaining this data to meet the new data requirement to ensure quality and efficiency, and document actual outcomes. Optimizing care by enhancing integration of technology support to facilitate work flows and provide data that supports both the point of care delivery as well as the perspective on organizational performance will be critical for
In this case study I will use Gibbs (1988) model of reflection to write a personal account of an abdominal examination carried out in general practice under the supervision of my mentor, utilising the skills taught during the module thus far.
Even in management, critical thinking is essential to having an effective organization. “Nurse managers who are adept at using critical thinking and have the “habits of mind” of a critical thinker are in a good position to assume a leadership role and create the changes that will achieve positive outcomes in health care organizations” (Zori, & Morrison, 2009 p.79).
Critical thinking used throughout the nation in nursing everyday to protect and treat patients in the most effective way. An example would be if a patient walked in to the hospital with a platelet count of 1, the nurse would know that they have a risk for bleeding and would place them on “risk for bleeding” protocols. Without critical thinking, the nurse would not know what to do. Critical thinking is a learned skill that every nurse should acquire, not only during his or her education, but also throughout his or her career.
The use of data is essential for nursing professionals to care for patients. Clinical data is used to support clinical decision making. With the introduction of technology and the electronic health record (EHR) and the amount of available data is insurmountable. It is estimated that nurses spend up to 50% of their work day recording, seeking, processing, and managing data, Access to clinical data has the potential to be very powerful for nurses, however data must be accurate, complete, reliable, and accessible to be of value (Hebda & Czar, 2013). Through the use of standard nursing language and the alignment of nursing sensitive quality measures the nursing profession will define the work of nursing through data and improved outcomes (Dykes
Critical thinking skills in nursing are very important and need to be a part of a nurse’s everyday routine according to Ericksen (2017). To become a nurse, one must learn practical skills in nursing school, like taking vitals, cleaning and dressing a cut, or administering medications with injections. But this is not sufficient for a nurse to be able to do their job successfully. A nurse must have the ability to think critically as well. Although there are some critical thinking pitfalls to acknowledge in order to identify why critical thinking is not used every day.
Thank you for sharing your experience about our forum for this week. For several years that I have been working in a skilled nursing facility (SNF), we have a psychiatrist who comes to our facility once a month and a psychologist who comes twice a week. I always communicate with her if I have some concerns with my patients.
Nurses can review vital signs history for a patient to spot abnormalities and creating a baseline with a few clicks of a mouse and identify inconsistencies and changes in health quickly, which saves not only time but lives too when using nursing informatics. Opportunities in nursing care can be discussed with management and the nursing informatics team to better serve patients. There is a huge push to reduce costs in healthcare and nursing informatics helps save money while improving patient care. Various members of the healthcare team can now look at the same patient's chart at the same time at many healthcare facilities. Nursing informatics professionals look for ways to improve the patient experience so that redundancy and waste are removed, but they try to keep the nursing process in mind to avoid sacrificing the level of care provided. Most jobs in this field are in hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical and research companies, and healthcare consulting companies. The locations of available jobs are similar to those offered to a traditional nurse, but it is clear that this position is considered niche and the traditional nurse would have more job opportunities (“Johnson & Johnson Discover Nursing”, 2014).