Nursing informatics is increasingly gaining traction in nursing, as many more medical personnel are discovering and acknowledging its undeniable benefits. Technological advancements, such as informatics, have facilitated more efficient data collection, analysis, and retrieval in the health care sector. Nursing informatics is the practice that incorporates information technology and computerized analytical data into orthodox nursing to enhance patient care. It has had an unmistakable impact on nursing and how the personnel in the field handle patient data. Since they deal with patients more intimately, nurses have consequently felt the impact of health care changes before other health care experts. Nursing informatics has positively transformed the health care sector and will see increased integration on a wider scale in the future to streamline services.
Nursing Informatics in Health Care Systems
Nursing informatics comprises of three aspects, which are information, data, and knowledge. In this specialty, data includes figures or patient particulars, such as a patient’s name or vital signs, that require no interpretation to discern. On the other hand, information refers to interpreted data, such as frequency of patient infections got in different care units in a hospital. Knowledge in nursing informatics refers to a coalescence of information to identify observable relationships with specific issues, such as the impact of low patient-to-nurse ratios on patients’ well-being. Nursing informatics led to effective electronic medical records, including medication records, test results, and progress notes. In addition, it has led to the evolution of computerized provider order entries. Nurses and their health care counterparts can deliver more efficient and speedy services to their patients due to easier and faster access to relevant medical information.
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Primary Role of a Nursing Informaticist
The American Nurses Association asserts that there are several key roles among nursing informaticists, including utilizing Electronic Health Records (EHR), which facilitate easy access to vital medical information. These nurses fall into the category of those who use health information technology. Another key role is the creation, testing, facilitation, and application of information technology. Nursing informaticists implementing this role design EHRs, provide consultation, assess outcomes, develop policies, and teach other health professionals on using informatics (Yen, Phillips, Kennedy, & Collins, 2017). Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and long-term care health specialists commonly implement these roles. Nursing informaticists also play a pivotal role in helping vendors to improve their products.
Nursing Informatics Impact on Client Safety
Nursing informaticists are instrumental in enhancing their patient’s safety through integrating information with the medical practice. They utilize health informatics to access data that can help them prevent misdiagnoses and medication errors. For instance, nurse informaticists can access patients’ electronic health records and see medication component allergies or interactions that they could not have been able to know any other way. Crucial data help nursing informaticists to make speedy decisions that can be the difference between life and death. Moreover, through technological integration, they improve documentation of patient records and information, which enables nursing informaticists to manage care more effectively, thus improving health care quality (Lavin, Harper, & Barr, 2015). Nursing informaticists also leverage informatics to relay information back and forth from other health specialists, such as pharmacists and therapists, who may provide specialized information. The enhanced health care coordination helps to substantially improve patient care.
Technology Skills Needed
Several skills are imperative for nursing informatics professionals, with computer or technical skills being among the most important (Norwich University Online, 2017). Nursing informaticists require technical aptitude so that they may perform an in-depth analysis of information and resolve issues. Additionally, they should be able to utilize business productivity tools, including project-tracking and document-creation tools. They should also possess critical thinking and analytical skills to be able to intellectually process problems and come up with meaningful solutions (Skiba, 2016). Analytical skills come in handy when system functionality becomes compromised, or there are workflow problems that need resolving. Clinical competence and experience are also chief skills necessary for nursing informatics professionals, which allow them to determine how to apply certain technological aspects in health care settings.
Nursing Informatics Impact on the Future of Client Care
Nursing informatics will only gain more traction in the future because of its numerous and expanding benefits in patient care. Therefore, because more health institutions will integrate technology, which is constantly improving, relay of medical information between and within hospitals will be more efficient. In addition, there could be a global or national medical information database, which hospitals can securely access to see a patient’s medical history among other relevant information. Alternatively, patients can access and store their medical information and avail it to doctors on demand. Easier access to medical information would guarantee improved patient care. With improving artificial intelligence, machines could diagnose and identify diseases from blood, fluid, or other samples. AI machines could also accurately identify diseases through patient symptoms that nursing informatics input, which could be pivotal in confirming medical diagnoses by nurses or medical personnel.
Conclusion
Nursing informatics is rapidly revolutionizing the health care sector and enhancing nursing practice. In essence, it is not a new specialty but is increasingly gaining traction, in part due to technological advancements. Nurses are mainly integrating technology into clinical settings to store and relay patients’ medical information and vital statistics. However, in the future, technological integrations could facilitate more complex functionalities. The main benefit of nursing informatics is better health care service and subsequently improved patient care. The necessary skills required to effectively implement nursing informatics include clinical competence and technical aptitude.
References
Lavin, M. A., Harper, E., & Barr, N. (2015). Health information technology, patient safety, and professional nursing care documentation in acute care settings. Online J Issues Nurs , 20 (2).
Norwich University Online (2017, November 6). A Career Overview of the Nursing Informatics Specialist. Retrieved from https://online.norwich.edu/academic-programs/resources/a-career-overview-of-the-nursing-informatics-specialist
Skiba, D. J. (2016). Informatics competencies for nurses revisited. Nursing Education Perspectives , 37 (6), 365-367.
Yen, P. Y., Phillips, A., Kennedy, M. K., & Collins, S. (2017). Nursing informatics competency assessment for the nurse leader: instrument refinement, validation, and psychometric analysis. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration , 47 (5), 271-277.
