Nursing Informatics is the specialty that integrates nursing science with various information administration and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage, and communicate data, information, understanding, and wisdom in nursing practice ( Choi & Zucker, 2013) . It assists nurses, patients, consumer, inter-professional healthcare management teams, and other stakeholders across the healthcare disciplines in decision making at their respective roles to achieve desired outcomes in health delivery ( Choi & Zucker, 2013) . This is accomplished through use of information processes, information structures, and information technology. This paper aims at describing the use of nursing informatics in nursing practice and the underlying ethical issues from the practice.
Health informatics is mainly used in improving patient care in the nursing profession. The primary way through which informatics is being used in nursing practice is through documentation ( Darvish, Bahramnezhad, Keyhanian & Navidhamidi, 2014) . Documentation is vital in the delivery of standard care thus in formation and electronic documentation have a great influence in nursing. Documentation involves of collecting information and organizing it in electronic patient records. This process is automatic since devices from various departments are interconnected where they collect specific data in real time and transmit it to patients’ records ( Darvish, Bahramnezhad, Keyhanian & Navidhamidi, 2014) . Information of patients conditions can be shared electronically thus modern health records are efficient for nursing practices since nurses manage to obtain information for patients without much effort hence saving on time. In addition, nurses can make better decisions on how to administer care and when the respective adjustments need to be made.
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Nursing informatics is also vital for reduced medical errors. With proper coordination of care provided to patients, reduction in errors that occur while offering care to patients will be evident. This means passing information from therapists and physicians, pharmacy, billing during care thus nurses provide the patients with the appropriate information, which in turn improves outcome. Further, health informatics provides relevant data that can help to prevent errors. For instance, electronic records offer information concerning possible hazardous medication or allergies that might not be immediately noticeable ( Darvish, Bahramnezhad, Keyhanian & Navidhamidi, 2014) . Therefore, nurses can make decisions from the warning given and come up with better alternatives. A study conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality proves that majority of nurses who use Electronic Health Record systems (EHRs) experience few problems in medication errors, getting patients ready for discharge, and provide quality care ( Choi & Zucker, 2013) .
However, numerous ethical issues have arisen from the use of informatics in professional nursing. Mainly, ethical issues that have risen entail of the patients’ rights to freedom and decision making in management of their information on personal health, concept of privacy, and principles of fairness and equity in access to information ( Choi & Zucker, 2013) . Increased portability and accessibility of EHR systems also raises ethical concerns regarding the ownership of the protected health information (PHI) and nurses’ responsibility to prevent and inform patients of the potential for privacy violation. A number of patients are concerned with the increased risks of unauthorized personal health information disclosure. An example, vendors have sold copies of their patients’ databases to other pharmaceutical companies and researchers. In addition, complex ethical issues have come to attention; for instance, organizations use audit logs to justify firing staff members who access EHRs without authorization ( Sittig & Singh, 2011) .
Indeed, it is evident that nursing informatics is advantageous for use in professional nursing despite the little challenges and violations of rules that come with it. In today’s world, nurses have acknowledged the use of informatics in the enhancement of quality health care since they are the ones that have the most communication with patients. The use of health informatics and quality-based information technology should be embraced positively. Clinicians should use informatics in an ethical and intelligent manner that does not raise any concerns.
References
Choi, J. & Zucker, D. M. (2013). What ethical issues have arisen or might arise from use of informatics in professional nursing. J Prof Nurs ;29(6):381-7.
Darvish, A, Bahramnezhad, F., Keyhanian, S., Navidhamidi, M. (2014). The Role of Nursing Informatics on Promoting Quality of Health Care and the Need for Appropriate Education. Glob J Health Sci ;6(6):11-8.
Sittig, D. F., & Singh, H. (2011). Legal, ethical, and financial dilemmas in electronic health record adoption and use. Pediatrics, 127(4), e1042-7.
