Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists

Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists

The American Nursing Association (ANA) defines nursing informatics as a specialty that integrates analytical science with nursing sciences in collecting, defining, managing, and dispersing knowledge, information, data, or knowledge in the nursing field (Nagle et al., 2017). In the early 1970s, computers began to be slowly acknowledged in providing basic information technology in the healthcare sector, especially nursing. They were initially utilized to provide information in pharmacy, radiology, and laboratory departments (Nagle et al., 2017). Later, they were designed to provide information in various departments within healthcare institutions. Over time, organizations have realized the need for effective collaboration between information technology workers and clinical personnel for the delivery of quality output services in the health sector. It is this teamwork that eventually yielded to the specialty of nursing informatics.

Nursing informatics specialists play a vital role in developing and applying computerized patient information systems by offering technical knowledge and experience to clinical officials (Tso Ying, 2017). Informatics also electronically document data in more informed, and standardized notes, which are readily available to clinical workers and physicians, thus making nurse’s decisions more effective (Cummins et al., 2016). Although nurses apply their knowledge and experiences to improve patient care, informatics do extra work by; conducting further explorations on comprehensive nursing practices and researching on evidence to ensure that the nursing practices are effective (Cummins et al., 2016). Nursing informatics also plays an upper hand by training nurses on the application of clinical information technology systems. Patients are also beneficiaries of nursing informatics by being offered detailed clinical decisions and benefit from lower rates of admission and readmission by spending less time during hospital visits upon informatics effectiveness.

References

Cummins, M. R., Gundlapalli, A. V., Murray, P., Park, H. A., & Lehmann, C. U. (2016). Nursing informatics certification worldwide: history, pathway, roles, and motivation. Yearbook of medical informatics, 25(01), 264-271. DOI: 10.15265/IY-2016-039

Nagle, L. M., Sermeus, W., & Junger, A. (2017). Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatics Specialist. Studies in health technology and informatics, 232, 212–221.