Nursing Informatics

Nurses are moving from a traditional method of performing task into the technological era. As informatics nurses recognize the need to move from the traditional to a progressive approach. There are many theorist that propose change; however, Kurt Lewin the father of psychology, introduces the theory concepts, emphasizes that the group differ from the sum of its parts. The change theory presents the three-stage model of change. The Lewins model (2011) consist of the unfreezing-change-refreeze theory. The purpose of this discussion is to examine the theories and conceptual frameworks applicable to nursing informatics, view and summarize the video, and Evaluate Applications of Theories or Conceptual Frameworks to Nursing Informatics Initiative.

Curtis et al., in the article, “The importance of daily weight measurements in heart failure patients: a performance improvement project”, addressed the problem of lack of accurate daily weights by 0500 daily. Despite the policy and importance of daily patient weights, it was shown that accurate daily weights were still lacking. They discovered that the problem was the lack of availability of standing scales and lack of nursing staff support (NSS) understanding of the importance of daily patient weights. They supplied the floor with an additional standing scale and educated the nursing staff and support on the importance of daily weights. With these implementations, accurate patient daily weights increased by 90% (Curtis et al., 2012).

I am writing to obtain permission to conduct an evidence-based quality improvement project using a pretest/posttest design in your facility with the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of an educational intervention regarding the importance and use of the nurse driven protocol on nurses ' knowledge and CAUTI rates.

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.

“a paperless, digital and computerized system of maintaining patient data, designed to increase the efficiency and reduce documentation errors by streamlining the process.”(Santiago, n.d., para. 1)

Discuss an original presentation to introduce the new EMR system to staff on you unit. In your Presentation:

EHR was created to have a technical way to securely exchange private and personal medical health information in hopes to improve the quality of care, decrease medical errors, limiting paper use, reduction of health care cost, and increasing a person access to affordable health care. A mandate was created for EHR stating that health records can be accessible to all facilities with patients having the capability to access their own health records at any time. Ameliorating the quality and convenience of care given to a patient, allow for cost saving measures, engage the patient and family to participate in their care, improve accuracy of medical diagnosis, and enhance the efficiency of the overall outcome of the patients’ health.

• The implementation of the EHR will open up the employee to gain access to all the patient records available within one system. This includes x-rays, labs, notes, care plans, etc. • With secured passwords available to each employee, the employ is able to review current and past reports to increase the quality of care for that patient. • Accessing the

Weight issues – If an individual is dramatically losing/gaining weight, the staff are easily able to identify what and how much and individual has been eating

Cerner integrates patient information throughout all of the departments within a hospital setting. This program also has the ability to expand into other health care facilities within a community, such as long term care, hospice, and home health (Cerner, 2015). Cerner offers community hospitals solutions in their “Software as a Service” model. Cerner will host the software program, provide upgrades, and monitor performance to ensure stability. This will allow community hospitals to have a predictable cost for the software (Cerner, 2015). Another advantage of this system is the “Smart Room”. Wireless devices such as infusion pumps, and vital sign monitoring devices can access the system. This allows for instant documentation of this information into a patient chart and will alert if abnormalities are noted. Bar code scanners and carts are available as well. These items improve patient safety (Cerner, 2015). Cerner is capable of CPOE, electronic prescription transmitting, and has the ability to capture data and immunization statuses to meet reporting regulations.

obligations in documents and alerts. Ease-of-use and functionality of workflow processes in the EHR system are key considerations for selecting the system vendor. Consequently, the needs assessment, readiness assessment, and the workflow analysis are fundamental steps to decide if an EHR system is convenient to be implemented in your healthcare facility, however the workflow analysis will guide you in choosing and purchasing the best system that fits your institution. Mapping the workflow for various tasks enables recognizing the features and functionalities that should be in the EHR system. These features are important to be presented for the vendor as scenarios, and it is recommended to ask the vendor to show you how a patient record is initiated and managed based on your previous presented scenarios. This allows you to compare between vendors and clarify the usage of the software for various workflows in your institution. Only scenario-based demonstrations elaborate if the system’s smooth usability matches your institution workflow or not. Finally, it is critical to test-drive the system by yourself

The use of electronic health record systems, better known as EHR systems, has skyrocketed within the last five years. Now required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the EHR has been widely adopted throughout the United States for a number of reasons. it is best known for saving time on charting and billing, however other functions of the EHR can include patient demographics such as allergies, medications, and history, consents and directives, E-prescribing, alerts and reminders, medical reconciliation, and patient education. The EHR also offers other interfaces that are required to exchange information with other providers, laboratories, pharmacies, the patient themselves, and appropriate government agencies when necessary. Some EHR systems even offer programs for patients to use to access their chart and input data, which makes visits easier for physicians because their current symptoms are already in the chart before their

EMR systems are collections of digital records kept by health care facilities and affiliates such as hospitals, doctor's offices, and insurance companies (Lynn, 2011). They are also referred to as EHRs (electronic health records) - both names can be used interchangeably. The intention of the EMR system is to extend health information technology into the realm of patient record keeping and automated

Also, Cerner and Meditech have a few differences in their function and features in their applications. For the Cerner Powerchart Ambulatory, it does not provide application programming interface (API), but Meditech does. API is a program that allows two software programs to communicate with each other. In Meditech, a web API solution reduces development timelines enabling applications to be released to the market more quickly (Apcar, 2015). Therefore, it allows a fast, reliable and secure access to improve patient outcomes (Apcar, 2015). Another difference in feature is online booking. For, Cerner Powerchart does not include online booking like Meditech does. Online booking is used to start the scheduling

When you look at how nursing documentation affects patient outcomes consider all the benefits of informatics. Electronic charting systems allows for automation in patient safety issues. This automation can be prompts that forces a nurse to address things like abuse history, and many other requirements from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and if the nurses document, there is a history of abuse, the system can automatically send a referral to a department to follow up on the nurses charting. The clinical systems store valuable information, and re-populates, this information on later admissions. An example of this valuable information, would be a patient with the diagnosis of methicillin-resistant staph