Research Proposal: Nursing Informatics

Nursing Informatics Proposal

            Technological advancements in the healthcare sector have revolutionized the delivery of healthcare services. The nurses play an integral role in the integration and use of technology in delivering quality and safe nursing care services to the patients (Nagle, 2021). Thus, this proposal will define nurse informatics, the role of nurse Informaticists, their experiences in other healthcare organizations, the impact of maximum engagement in technology in healthcare, and lastly, discuss the opportunities, challenges, and recommendations involving the Nurse Informaticists.

Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist
Nursing Informatics

            Nursing Informaticists is a nursing specialty that the American Nurse’s Association recognized in 1991. According to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), nursing Informaticists is described as the specialty of nursing that incorporates information technology and computer science in nursing practice (Borycki et al., 2017). It entails the use of technology knowledge and skills to improve the quality and safety of healthcare services in an organization. Additionally, the knowledge of information technology helps in enhancing interprofessional coordination that helps to make different healthcare decisions and address the health needs of the patients holistically in the healthcare organization. Research studies predict that technology in healthcare will gradually increase with the aim of improving the patient’s health outcomes.

Nurse Informaticist Role

            Nurse Informaticists are trained and registered nurses who have been trained and equipped with information technology knowledge and skills. This means that they understand the workflow and nursing environment and the workflow of activities in the delivery of healthcare services to the patients (Collins et al., 2017). They play an integral role in healthcare facilities where they train other healthcare professionals on technology, evaluate the need for technological devices and systems, selecting and integrate a healthcare technological device or system in the delivery of service. Additionally, they conduct research related to healthcare and technology and present it to the state, federal, and global organizations for evaluation and implementation. They analyze the hospital data that is collected by the technological devices to help in making adjustments or identifying solutions that solve the challenges encountered by the nurses (Skiba, 2017). They act as an advocate for patients’ rights to quality and safe healthcare services by proposing the adoption of different technological devices such as electronic health records at the organization, state, federal, and global levels.

Nurse Informaticists and Other Health Care Organizations

            Nurse Informaticists are part and parcel of the healthcare team involved in delivering holistic and patient-centered healthcare services to patients. Additionally, nurses are trained to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to ensure that the patients receive the best healthcare services (Nagle, 2021). In this case, nurse informatics helps a health organization integrate technology in clinical and nursing practice. They collaborate with the management, fellow nurses, doctors, laboratory technicians, therapists, pharmacists, and other workers in the healthcare organization. For example, in an interview with Jane, a nurse informaticist from Stanford Healthcare, one of the largest healthcare facilities in California. She explained how she successfully integrated the use of Electronic health records (EHR) in the hospital. She worked with the management to select the best EHR system that met the healthcare organization's needs. She trained the healthcare facilities and motivated them to use the system in documentation to ensure safe sharing and easy retrieval of patient’s health data vital in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. She focused on elaborating on the benefits of the system to the healthcare professionals, patients, and the performance of the facility. This eliminated the risk of resistance to change that would have delayed its integration into the management of patients. Additionally, she acted as an expert in IT and thus became a reliable source of information and support in case of any technological issues concerning the program.

Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology
Patient Care

            The engagement of nurses in healthcare technology positively affects patient care. Technology helps in addressing various challenges that are involved in the delivery of care. For example, the adoption of EHR helps in the coordination of care through accurate and safe sharing of patients’ health data (Collins et al., 2017). Additionally, the physicians can access the patient’s health information quickly and provide an accurate diagnosis that improves the patients’ outcomes. Nurse Informaticists are trained to identify various gaps in healthcare and develop various transformative solutions that improve patient care. Additionally, the use of various technical devices such as automated blood pressure cuffs and telemetry helps in eliminating errors that negatively affect the quality and safety of care services.

Protected Health Information

Technology has revolutionized documentation and thus enhanced the privacy and security of healthcare information. The engagement of nurses in health technological systems such as EHR has enhanced the confidentiality, privacy, and security of health information (Borycki et al., 2017). This is because the information is shared with authorized healthcare professionals who require passwords to access the system. Nurse Informaticists work to ensure that the systems or programs are safe from various virus attacks and hackers that may affect the credibility and accuracy of patients’ health information.

Workflow

            Technology in healthcare enhances the workflow of medical and nursing activities. The engagement of nurses in technology enhances the prompt delivery of care services. It enhances the efficient and adequate documentation of patients’ health information (Nagle, 2021). This allows the nurses to have more time to focus on other essential nursing activities that affect the patient’s outcomes. For example, the electronic charting system helps the nurses to key in the patient's health data quickly and in real-time. Additionally, they can share the information with the interdisciplinary care team. Additionally, the nurse leader can make appointments and scheduling of shifts through the use of technology in a fast and straightforward way which enhances the workflow of care activities.

Costs and Return on Investment

            The demand for high-quality, safe, and affordable healthcare services has led to the need for healthcare reforms. One of the healthcare reforms is the adoption of technology in the delivery of healthcare services. For example, the integration of EHR in the documentation of patients’ health information eliminates the paper filing system. This helps save the costs of documentation, thus reducing the healthcare costs for the patients and the organization (Skiba, 2017). The Affordable Care Act led to the adoption of the value-based system which focuses on making healthcare services affordable and accessible to many people. The engagement of nurses in technology eliminates the medical errors that negatively affect the quality of care and increase the costs of healthcare. This means that technology is in line with the ACA which aims to reduce healthcare costs.

Opportunities and Challenges

            Nursing informatics focuses on improving the patient’s health outcomes by enhancing the flow of medical and nursing activities in the delivery of quality, patient-centered, and affordable care services (Borycki et al., 2017). The existences of nurse Informaticists bring different opportunities such as effective administrative programs, efficient delivery of care, accurate and secure data documentation and sharing system, and enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration and communication among healthcare professionals. Improved collaboration and communication are vital in the delivery of holistic care that addresses all aspects of patient’s health needs (Skiba, 2017). However, there are various challenges, such as the lack of adequate technical skills, that may affect the integration of different systems in delivering care. Additionally, the resistance to change among the nurses may derail the implementation and use of various technological systems.

Summary of Recommendations

            Nursing Informaticists are among the latest technological revolution in the healthcare sector. The adoption of different technological devices in healthcare has improved the workflow of medical and nursing activities, enhanced communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals, and improved the patient’s health outcomes. Change is investable, and thus, nursing Informaticists is a growing trend in the healthcare sector. In the nursing practice technology has revolutionized documentation, the sharing of data, and the delivery of nursing care services to the patients. Technology will solve the issue of data privacy and reduce healthcare costs.