NUR 514 The Evolution of Nursing Informatics Presentation

NUR 514 The Evolution of Nursing Informatics Presentation

Nursing informatics plays a key role in the nursing process. Nurses obtain patient information and use the data to develop nursing care plans, execute the plan, and communicate findings with other providers. Advances in nursing informatics have enabled nurses to access vital patient data with the click of a button. In hospitals and clinic offices, providers have access to electronic health records, which enable them to access private and confidential patient health information in a secure environment (Al Najjar & Shafie, 2022).  In addition, informatics has impacted clinical practice through services such as telehealth, which provide a channel for client education and medical and healthcare services like health monitoring and clinical diagnosis (Al Najjar & Shafie, 2022). Currently, health providers can communicate and plan care more effectively, in collaboration with patients and other providers, owing to technological advances.

Nursing informatics is revolutionizing how health care is delivered. Healthcare systems are integrating wireless solutions, high-speed data networks, handheld devices, automated exchanges between organizations/providers and patients, and various social media platforms into their daily interactions (Al Najjar & Shafie, 2022). Informatics has helped healthcare administrators and managers to communicate more efficiently with the medical personnel in their organizations. Furthermore, informatics helps healthcare administrators to customize incentive plans for patients. Health informaticists help managers in the healthcare industry access pertinent information to produce actionable insights that enhance both therapeutic and organizational efficiency (Kennedy & Moen, 2018). Informatics enables health administrators to access patient data that enables them to provide administrative services, like appropriately billing patients.

The evolvement of nursing informatics has led to the establishment of degree programs in informatics to equip nurses with knowledge and skills in this field. Graduate programs at Master’s and Doctorate levels continue to grow. They provide education, certification, and credentialing to expand the knowledge, skills, and vision required for the nursing informatician of today and tomorrow (Singh & Masango, 2020). In addition, nursing informatics has led to the introduction of informatics in the nursing curricula to teach nursing students to use technology and informatics. This ensures that nursing students acquire the necessary psychomotor skills related to the use of technology hardware and software important in healthcare settings.

Informatics literacy is considered a vital issue in improving nursing evidence-based practice (EBP). Informatics and computer skills are crucial components that support and reinforce the EBP framework. Nurses and other health providers are expected to have high-level information literacy to improve their science-based performance (Abdekhoda & Khezri, 2021). The clinical team particularly nurses who have a crucial role in caring for patients, use informatics to obtain information on the latest changes related to clinical care. They also use informatics to update themselves on the latest clinical information to better patient care.  Health providers use online databases to stay up-to-date on current research and make decisions based on that research, thus increasing the chances of improved health care. To effectively search databases, nurses must have information literacy skills like how to organize information in databases, create and arrange search terms, and create search strategies to obtain high-quality literature in research (Abdekhoda & Khezri, 2021).

Government regulations lay the foundation for the documenting, storing, and use of electronic health information (EHI). Government laws play a key role in enabling health departments to use HIT to optimize systems that use patient information to monitor population health trends and interface with similar HIT systems used by healthcare providers and hospitals (Ramanathan et al., 2018). The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) creates regulations that outline the standards and certification criteria that EHRs must meet to assure health providers and hospitals that the systems they take on can perform various functions (Ramanathan et al., 2018). Thus, this regulation can affect organizational policies on EHR systems since hospitals must comply with and adopt EHR systems that meet the ONC’s regulations. Government regulations like the HITECH Act drive health organizations to adopt security that promotes secure electronic health information exchange.

The rapid development of healthcare technology gives opportunities for innovations to transform healthcare practices. Nurse-led innovation is vital for enhancing workflow. It should be encouraged and backed