NursTransWK2
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ExampleofNurseleaderasaknowledgeworker.pptxNursing Informatics and the Nurse as a Knowledge Worker
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Walden University
Transforming Nursing and Healthcare Through Technology
Dr. Wilson
September 12th, 2021
What is nursing informatics?
The use of knowledge and information derived from technology to enhance the clinical efficacy of nursing practice (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018).
Information intensive
Includes scientific knowledge as well as nursing theory
Nursing informatics has rightly become a specialty, incorporating theoretical nursing knowledge, scientific knowledge, creative problem solving, and technology in the name of professional nursing practice advancement. By using robust bodies of knowledge and information, nursing informatics aims to close human gaps in care by utilizing technology and then information derived therefrom.
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Nurses as Knowledge Workers
Conversion of information to knowledge
Non-repetitive, non-routine
Advancement of theoretical and analytical knowledge
Continuous learning
Specialist
All nurses today have access to and constantly use information derived from technology to guide their clinical decisions (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). However, by definition, a nurse who spends more than half of their time analyzing vast amounts of information in a non-repetitive and non-routine fashion in the name of tackling challenges both old and new would be considered a knowledge worker (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). These types of nurses tend to be in leadership as well as specialists in their area of practice. Additionally, the nursing leader as a knowledge worker will remain in a continuous cycle of learning and implementing innovative solutions to varying degree of new challenges (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018).
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Nurses as Knowledge Worker cont.
Highly educated
Autonomy
Multi-disciplinary
Sustainability and growth
Typically, the knowledge worker nurse has received much higher education in their field compared to their entry level colleagues and bears more autonomy and control over the work environment in which they operate (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). Additionally, although they are highly specialized in their field, their work will take them across disciplinary lines, often finding themselves working in multi-disciplinary teams to achieve their professional objectives. Additionally, nurse knowledge workers’ productivity plays a critical role in the sustainability, operability, and innovation of healthcare organizations and highly benefits from the implementation of knowledge management (Kianto et al., 2018)
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Clinical Scenario and Application
A 51-year-old male patient has just shown up to an outpatient endoscopy center for a routine screening colonoscopy. The patient presents as agitated, anxious, and is a poor historian of his health history. He reports not knowing the names of the medications he takes ass well as the dosages. He reports having a cholecystectomy over 10 years ago and says he had “some sort of problem” with the anesthesia. Additionally, the medication record is outdated and accessing past surgical records will take an unreasonable amount of time. Upon further investigation and an anesthesia evaluation, it is discovered that the patient had a difficult intubation due to anatomy, he currently takes blood thinners, and is currently in atrial fibrillation. His procedure is cancelled and will have to be done in a hospital setting.
Where were the gaps? How could technology be used to prevent this occurrence? Are there any current examples of technology helping in a situation like this?
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Clinical Scenario and Application cont.
Failures in rapid assessment reliance
Multi-disciplinary system integration
Electronic personal identifiers and Electronic health records
In this scenario, the nurse must rely on a rapid health assessment and gathering of history which fails to accurately convey pertinent information that may come into play during the procedure. This problem may rightly be solved by using technology that integrated health records across the disciplines of anesthesiology, pharmacology, and surgical services. Within the last few years great strides have been made within health systems in Taiwan regarding the integration of EHRs across different organizations and disciplines, resulting in significant reductions in medical errors, medication errors, errors in medical procedures, mis-identification, and has actively streamlined healthcare services across several different disciplines (Tso-Ying Lee et al., 2017). Even more specifically, Taiwan’s social health insurance program, NHI, has implemented electronic cards that hold information such as personal identification information, insurance information, data from recent healthcare organization visits, allergies, drug prescriptions from the last three months, history and physicals, advanced directives, and immunization records (The Commonwealth Fund, 2020). Implementation of technology such as the one described would most likely prevent situations like the one described from happening.
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Infographic
The arrow stretching across all three of these domains also represent the constant flow of innovative problem solving and new problems that may arise from implementation along with unforeseen issues arising from different areas of healthcare. The double-directional arrow also represents the ebb and flow of the nursing process.
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The procedural implications for innovative solutions regarding integration of multi-disciplinary systems are significant.
The nursing leader as a knowledge worker using informatics to continuously learn and use synthesized knowledge to offer and implement innovative solutions to challenges across disciplines
Innovative solutions from knowledge workers hold significant bearing in areas regarding pertinent health information like medication history, personal identifiers, and health history.
References
The Commonwealth Fund. (2020, June 5). Taiwan. International Health Care Systems Profile. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy -center/countries/taiwan#electronic-health-records
Kianto, A., Shujahat, M., Hussain, S., Nawaz, F., & Ali, M. (2019). The impact of knowledge management on knowledge worker productivity. Baltic Journal of Management.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Tso-Ying Lee, Gi-Tseng Sun, Li-Tseng Kou, Mei-Ling Yeh, Lee, T.-Y., Sun, G.-T., Kou, L.-T., & Yeh, M.-L. (2017). The use of information technology to enhance patient safety and nursing efficiency. Technology & Health Care, 25(5), 917–928. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.3233 /THC -170848
