Assessment 1 Instructions: Nursing Informatics in Health Care

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Nursing Informatics in Health Care

Perla Rodriguez

Capella University

NURS-FPX4040

Dr. Donna Weeks

July 1, 2022

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Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist

This is a specialty that involves the integration of the nursing discipline with information

technology. Such procedures help identify, describe, manage, and communicate data, statistics, and

insight into the nursing practice. Nursing informatics helps support the interprofessional team, for

example, nurses, the patients, and other healthcare disciplines, in decision-making towards

attaining the desired outcomes (Hague et al., 2019). Nurse informaticists play a crucial role in

educating ad training other team members about the use of this technology. They help in

supporting the providers in utilizing technology and helping in responding to the concerns arising.

Nurse Informaticists and other Healthcare Organizations

The nurse informaticists are involved in the crucial interactions with the interdisciplinary

team and the nursing staff. This type of interaction occurs in different forms. For example, they act

through liaisons between clinical and information technology departments. Nurse informaticists are

involved in analyzing the data and offering information or feedback to the administration for some

of the lacking opportunities crucial for reimbursement through effectively capturing data

(Strudwick et al., 2019). They are also involved in the delivery of essential education that ensures

the existence of the best practices through the use of technology that enhance the workflow of the

staff.

The nurse informaticists are also consulted during the development of the policies. This

staff plays a crucial role in monitoring the quality control measures associated with the specific

projects or promoting compliance. The nurse informaticists also play an essential role in the

organizations like health insurance firms (Hague et al., 2019). While working in collaboration with

these organizations, they are directly involved in collecting information like the HEDIS measures

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that are reported to the CMS to determine the practice standards of each firm and to guide on how

to make reimbursement.

Impact of full Nurse Engagement in Healthcare Technology

The existence of a fully engaged nursing staff in terms of promotion or implementation of

health technology helps in the improvement of patient care delivery. It helps in the advancement of

communication that promotes the workflow and reduction of medication errors. The

communication process is essential for healthcare providers since it ensures that each input is put

into work. The emergence of communication technologies promotes collaboration between the

staff far away from one another (Hague et al., 2019). The emergence of technologies such as

telemedicine or telehealth also ensures the easy process of sharing patient data between the

providers and effective management of patients, especially under home-based care. Electronic

health records (EHRs) provide an adequate flow of information and the protection of patient data.

Nurse informaticists ensure the maintenance of protected health information (PHI). Nurse

informaticists assist in monitoring the type of information delivered. Nurse informaticists are also

involved in educating the staff about the kind of information to be sent or accessed. For example,

they inform the billing department about the need not to access the due balance and the financial

information (Ali et al., 2018). The nurse informaticist helps with the screening process of privacy,

ensuring the activation of lock screens and ensuring that passwords are not easily changeable. All

these activities are essential in ensuring adherence to the legal requirements to help secure PHI,

making them private and confidential.

Opportunities and challenges

The attainment of quality services requires teamwork and collaboration amongst the

interdisciplinary team. These actions help enhance quality healthcare by engaging in the discussion

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about the particular needs of every department. The collaborative efforts among the team support

the inclusion of the nurse informaticists who assists in the facilitation of technology use (Ali et al.,

2018). There are various areas of opportunities available for the role of nurse informaticists. For

example, they can help improve the communication process between the organizations'

departments, streamline the operation process to enhance the workflow, and possibly improve the

reimbursement.

However, there are also available challenges that can be encountered in the process. One of

the challenges likely to be faced is the feeling of frustration by the nurses. The frustrations can be

associated with the changes that take place in the organization during the implementation of the

new technology. The situation worsens when the providers are unfamiliar with the proposed

technology. The challenge makes it hard to realize the successful implementation process since

nurses might be worried about how many new technologies might affect their operations with the

facility (Strudwick et al., 2019). The other challenge is associated with the flawed process of

information delivered to the nurses who are likely to be affected by the proposed intervention. In

this case, the level of resistance might increase since there is a lack of awareness about the

importance of the proposed intervention or how the new technology will benefit the nurses in terms

of performance improvement.

The other challenge associated with implementing the new technology that is likely to

affect the work of the informaticists is the number of days, months, or years to be taken for the

improvement or increase in the revenue. This is linked to the learning curves for implementing

new technology and education needed to assess the documentation qualification or skills of the

nursing staff.

Summary and Recommendations

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The process of managing healthcare services appears to be complicated, and this needs a

collaborative effort from the healthcare team. Healthcare is experiencing transformation in terms of

the emerging illnesses and solutions for addressing these issues. The present treatment is based on

the adoption and implementation of evidence-based practice, including the performance of the new

technology. The complexity of healthcare is linked to the emergence of new chronic illnesses that

require nurses to actively take part in the research work to design suitable interventions.

One of the primary strategies for addressing these complexities involves implementing

health technologies. The inclusion of the nurse Informaticist in the improvement of organizational

ability and enhancement of the coordination results in the rise in the communication process

between interdisciplinary teams and the exchange of information. The improved flow of

information helps in ensuring that there is a presence of comprehensive information about the

condition of the clients. Therefore, every organization must consider the nurse informaticist's role,

the organization's needs, and how the providers will likely interact with the proposed new

technology. To avoid unpredictable challenges, there is a need to ensure that the healthcare system

can be implemented, cohesive, easy to use, and practical. Based on the present increase in the

emergence and adoption of healthcare technologies and technical skills, every healthcare facility

needs to ensure that nurses are trained to allow them to acquire skills and knowledge associated

with the adoption of health technology. One of the alternatives that can be adopted to ensure that

there is an expansion in the health information and technology knowledge and skills is for the

management to employ informaticists. The organization can engage in the onboarding approach of

the nurse informaticist position to enable them to adapt to the ever-changing health technology.

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References

Ali, R.A., Benjamin, K., Munir, S., & Ahmed, N. (2018). A review of informatics competencies

tools for nurses and nurse managers. Can J Nurs Inf, 13 (1), 1.

Hague, S., Ebron, S., Baily, B., & Blumenfeld, B. (2019). Use of health information technology

among patient navigators in community health interventions. Perspectives in Health

Information Management, 1-12.

Strudwick, G., Nagle, L., Kassam, I., Pahwa, M., &Sequira, L. (2019). Informatics competencies

for nurse leaders: a scoping review. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49 (6),

323-330