Nursing Informatics Essay

In our society today, we have a broad range of computer technology for our use. This technology in the nursing field is called informatics. Informatics is defined as a combination of computer science, information science, and nursing science designed to assist in the management and processing of nursing data, information, and the knowledge to support the practice of nursing and the delivery of nursing care (Thede, 1). Nearly anywhere we go, and whatever career we choose we all need to have basic computer skills. Computers are used in the health care profession due to an increase of productivity they can provide, therefore allowing for better patient care. Computers also allow for hospitals, doctor’s offices, and other healthcare facilities to change over to and begin keeping electronic medical records (EMR). An EMR has the medical information that the doctors and nurses obtain when you have an office visit. The patient’s paper medical record is put into an EMR program is basically made into a digital version of that patient’s medical information. The patient’s healthcare provider can then use these EMRs for diagnoses and treatment. There can be advantages and disadvantages for healthcare providers to transition to an EMR system, and those providers will have to decide which one will outweigh the other.

The growth of nursing from the time of Florence Nightingale to our present generation has really evolved were nurses us to be at the bedside caring for wounded soldiers, showering and toileting of patients to a more advanced critical thinking and analyzing information that has been collected for proper processing. It is time to take nursing to another level that will save our patients and the community as a whole. One of the advantages of informatics is the safety of our patients so they are not hurt from the cares we provide. As explained in the American Nurses Association (2015) there is much assurance in the safety of our patient and health care providers. Even though the goal of the health industry is to integrate the health care in the IT world, nurses need to properly master the technology and be competent users. Gugerty & Delaney (2009) explained in their article the need for a nurse to meet up with the fundamentals of informatics in other to provide safe and competent care. Therefore, every organization has to work hard to prove their employees with the resources needed to achieve this milestone. Striving to meet up with this new technology as a nurse, my goal is to be proficient at informatics so that I can safely take care of my patients.

Imagine just for a minute being in a hospital. Have you ever wondered who is always taking care of different patients almost at the same time? Or how it is possible that medicine is so advanced compared to years before? I have the answer. The nurse is the person in charge of taking care of patients, and medicine is so advanced thanks to the technology we have nowadays. I chose to be a Registered Nurse (RN), but I know is not an easy job because they have to perform different job duties. Not everyone can become a nurse, in fact, to be one, you need some requisites first. Afterward, medicine has become improved because of the advances we have on technology.

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.

Technology plays a vital role in today’s healthcare system. As technology advances the role of a nurse informatics is to combine technology to support nursing care by implementing, converting information, and incorporating data, in order to develop and merge applications and software imperative to the quality of care given through data management and documentation (Darvish, Bahramnezhad, Keyhanian,

Learning about nursing information systems and hospital information can help me to be a modern and a better nurse. Fortunately for me, my new job offers training for newly recruits. It is my goal to be able to understand and use the available nursing information software to improve patient care, to prevent unnecessary repetitions and to promote continuity of care in the next two months. I hope to achieve my goal by following my instructor closely and asking for clarifications where

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

For all nurses it is important to develop nursing informatics competencies such as being able to utilize electronic documentation and clinical decision support applications because they provide us with the capacity to contribute to the rapid advancements of nursing knowledge in today’s world. In response, the most effective nursing care is provided to

Health information systems have changed nursing, making it more complex in ways that couldn’t have been imagined before. Not only has this shift toward technology made the nursing field broader but it’s become deeper as well. It’s gone from just knowing how to perform procedures and tasks into becoming a crucial member of the health care team and navigating complex clinical systems that were not a part of the description before. This is why I chose the topic of health information systems for nurses, to research how and when the shift went from caring for the sick to an even wider range of responsibilities that require a multitude of skills, both clinical as well as technical. In order to fully recognize how information systems have evolved

It is important for hospitals to find ways to meet the ever growing demands of caregivers for resourceful ways to enter and retrieve patient information. The process of effectively meeting these demands was coordinated through the leadership and efforts of the chief nurse executive and the information manager for nursing at a military facility. The efforts resulted in timely support for restructuring, improvement in the development of competency skills among nursing staff, and increase in the use of electronic methods for documentation of patient care (Miller & Arquiza, 1999). Discussion of the changes implemented include approaches and content of training for computer skills development, a position description for an expanded role of a nurse in the field of informatics, and the facility's structure that fits a patient-centered care

The use of healthcare information systems technologies are changing the way nurses care for patients. The American Nurses Association (ANA) describes the role and responsibility of the nurse as, the protection, promotion, and optimization of human health and wellbeing, through the diagnosis and treatment of human response to illness and injury. Nurses combine the art of caring, the science of medicine, to facilitate healing, alleviate suffering (ANA, 2010).

They focused on the design, selection, and implementation of health information systems (Hebda & Czar, 2012). It is crucial to obtain support from nurses and physicians when selecting a system they will use. “Nurses are resistant to change unless they see the potential benefits” (Hebda & Czar, 2012, p, 146)

Health Informatics created two main categories such as clinical and administrative information systems to meet the needs of one or more department within the health care organization. For the clinical information system, it is set to meet the needs in improving patient care. Therefore, the clinical information system (CIS) categories provide nurses information systems (NIS) that support the way nurses documents the care that given to the patients. However, to improve the delivery of nursing care, the healthcare organization must adopt a computer system that can successfully incorporate tools that will benefit nursing. There is two vendors’ software that implies these characteristics for the

Furthermore, after achieving a computerized system in the documentation of patient information, it is important to stabilize and re-evaluate the change process. It is important the nurse leader, and the super users provide the staff with updates and ongoing education to keep abreast with the changes in the information technology platform. In other words to ensure success, information technology experts must be available at any deemed moment to address any issues resulting from the EMR system. Furthermore, clinical educators should also be availed to provide necessary training to new nurses and staffs. Still, the system must be in regulation to set standards and policies thus in evaluation compliance to set regulations as the HIPAA must be checked and necessary improvement made concerning information and data security.

According to American Nurses Association, (2015), Nursing Information technology has contributed tremendously to the improvement of population health by optimizing information management and communication, (American Nurses Association, (2015). In the pursuit of improvement in the healthcare delivery system, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) developed specific technology competencies for nurses. However, the nurses will have to identify where they need training and improvements to perform their duties efficiently. According to Doris Fisher in this week two media,” nurses need a good foundation in, and good base of the information technology to be able to perform their duties.” (Laureate Education (Producer). (2012d)).