Goals For Nursing Informatics

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

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.

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 Certificate has decided that the 100 bed hospital that she works in would benefit

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.

I learned about the five core competencies and how to effectively implement them into my practice. The five core competencies consist of providing patient-centered care, working in interprofessional teams, engaging in evidenced-based practice, applying quality improvement and utilizing informatics (Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2014). Of these, the one that I feel to be continuously evolving and if not applied correctly can create medical errors is informatics. According to Jones and Bartlett Learning (2014), informatics is combining nursing health with computer technology. Technology allows nurses to be more efficient with documentation, increases communication and allows more time to be spent with direct patient

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

I Believe nursing informatics will make you knowledgeable in integrating data and information in the nursing process that affects patient’s care. Many healthcare industries are diverting into electronic form of charting, very soon patient’s information, orders, labs report, flowsheet and nurses’ notes kept in one chart will be faced out. Documentation from paper to computer would be helpful in accessing patient’s information. “Blending nursing science with computer and information science, prepares nurses to effectively utilize information technology to enhance the quality of patient care” (Walden

I think learning more about informatics will help me to become a better nurse while working in the hospital. I have several goals about learning informatics. First of all, I know that having more tools about it, will allow me to chart electronically my patient’s records and to protect them. It will help me to save more time while charting, and share my knowledge with other health care team. However, using informatics will allow me to plan appropriate decision for a better care. In addition, Informatics tools will alert about medication errors and the client’s current and ongoing health status. Using high quality electronic while documenting will give me more experience about assessing patients, and promote me to collect their

I liked the way you said that nursing informatics “combines different kinds of knowledge to raise performance standards that nurses must go by when caring for patients.” As future nurses to be, it is important for us to develop this skills to provide our patients with quality care as they deal with the stressfulness of having health problems.

I took the “Pretest Toward Computers in Healthcare (PATCH) Assessment Scale, version 3,” (Kaminski, J.). I scored 92.0, a reasonably good score, but I would have projected a higher score because of my background in Tele-Medicine. I have spent the last 10 years in Tele-Medicine, so it would be a safe assumption that I am computer and/or technology savvy and fluent with multiple platforms. That holds true to a point, but the fact that technology is constantly evolving keeps us all somewhat behind the bubble since computer science is not our primary focus. Nursing informatics will remain a fluid environment, as each nurse becomes more comfortable with technology, each will be able to incorporate innovative