Nursing Informatics

Nursing Informatics

Increasing quality of care through computerized management systems and Nursing Informatics

According to IMIA Special Interest Group on Nursing Informatics, nursing Informatics is known as the science that involves the profession of nursing and the information related to it, to integrate with the organization of information systems and communication technologies. This collaboration is aimed at improving the health of individuals, their families and of the society as a whole. The objective of applying the nursing informatics information is to enhance the capabilities of the healthcare professionals for the purpose of attaining better patient care (AMIA, 2012).

Nurses in these programs works to develop technologies for communication and information systems, for the benefit of researchers, medical practitioners, nursing staff, ward staff and software engineers in order to achieve improved patient care. These programs work in the following areas:

Representation of concepts and application to standards to ensure that practice and research is authentic and based on evidence

Data and communication standards to build an interoperable national data infrastructure

Methodologies of research to spread new information and knowledge to practitioners

Acquiring of information and its effective presentation for ensuring safe care that is centered on patients

Integrating information and communication technologies to cater to work flow among professionals for meeting the needs across all units

Vision, education and management for the development, evaluation, improvement and execution of communication and information technology

Explanation of policy of healthcare to enhance health of the public (AMIA, 2012)

New technologies related to health care, treatments, medications, and surgeries are being developed at a fast speed, and medical practitioners are expected to include them into their daily routines. Doctors and clinicians are also supposed to gather old and new knowledge, implement that knowledge on their patients, keep in mind each patient's health issues and concerns, and communicate effectively and efficiently with patients, healthcare providers and hospitals (AMIA, 2012).

In the past, conforming to these expectations had been a difficult task because there were no systems to store, organize, and disseminate patient and medical information. Nowadays, computer systems have been developed that assist medical practitioner and nurses in meeting each of these challenges.

How active nursing involvement in the planning, choice, and implementation of the following systems can help in achieving better patient care

Active Nursing Involvement

Nurses are analytical thinkers by nature. Their critical minds can quickly evaluat which procedures will work and be beneficial to patients and which ones will not be beneficial. Nurses can use the computer management systems to speed up the processes for the betterment of patients. Nursing involvement is necessary because they can use the systems for patient files, records, administration of medicines and for lab results. Nurses should be the ones using the systems as they are the ones who are in direct contact with the patients. This will benefit the patients to a great extent.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) majorly supports research and developed on informatics. Many of the computer systems and applications which are being used by nurses nowadays were developed through research funded by AHRQ (AHRQ, ...