Nursing Informatics

Nursing Informatics

Introduction

This paper is on the importance of nurse involvement in the planning, selection, design, and implementation of information systems in a nursing practice environment. The role of nurse has evolved in the use of technology to improve quality and the health care delivery. In the modern days, applying information technology to the skills and work of nurses in healthcare is essential as it will drastically alter the ways by which nurses treat, administer care for, diagnose and manage their patients (Douglas, M. J., 2000). It will help enhance the quality of nursing practice, assisting and documenting all aspects of patient nursing care from admission to discharge. Few insights and guidelines are mention in the paper by which I will be tackling the contributions of research and computer management system in my field.

Discussion

Increase in quality of care by computerized management systems

The addition of information technology into nursing ease the suitable flow of data collected by nurses, improving right of entry to patient information at the point of care, and enhancing abilities of nurses up to the standard, monitoring and auditing quality measures. With nursing informatics, the enthusiasm for innovation, technology and nursing leads to improve patient outcomes and greater quality of nurse-patient interactions. Progress in information technology has made developments of the technical basis for health care a truly global venture, but its application must remain restricted.

Electronic medical records can be very helpful in improving safety and quality of nursing care. As the nurse uses the EMR, and the physician uses it, as well. Illegible handwriting will not be an issue any longer (Orlovsky, C.2005). The advantages of the EMR are the level of enhancement and consistency of patient care, easy and organized access, less storage space. Thus, increasing the productivity and satisfaction for caregivers. Also, improving data integrity and data interface with other systems. Some of the shortcoming of the Electronic medical records is issues of data tampering, privacy of confidentiality, incorrect data entry and failure.

Computerized management systems allow for bedside and simultaneous charting. This saves time and can also improve the quality of the information as each care provider would able to document at the point of care. A complete medical record will improve patient safety. Information, such as lab results, will relay in a timelier manner and are available to everyone involved in the patient's care. This can speed up the decision making process, improving the safety of patients with unfavorable conditions. A complete medical history can prevent medication errors, such as medication interactions or prescribing medication to which the patient is allergic.

Active nursing involvement in the planning, choice, and implementation of the systems is important

Nurses, by nature, are critical thinkers. Our analytical minds will quickly determine which processes will or will not work and are useful to users. Computer management systems that do not work for nurses will not work for patients. Rather, they may endanger them. It is important to involve the end-user in the decision making ...