Introduction
The implementation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act as an element of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It resulted in the construction of digital infrastructure and the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) (Lievevrouw, 2020). The Act aimed to meet meaningful use standards in the United States (U.S.) (Robichaux et al., 2019). Due to the complexity of healthcare provision and information systems, a critical role for healthcare professionals with specialist informatics knowledge has evolved to protect the major investments in health-related technology (Vošner, 2020). The passage of the (HITECH Act in 2009 prompted health institutions and practices across the country to install Health Information Technology (HIT).
Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist
With data driving choices at every degree of a healthcare system, healthcare providers should have experts who can grasp and articulate technology processes and their underlying rationale to clinical professionals. The term “informatics” refers to the processing, storage, and retrieval of data to enhance healthcare delivery and patient outcomes (Harerimana, 2021). As a result, by combining clinical knowledge and data competence, nurse informaticists connect the dots across data and nursing practice.
What is Nursing Informatics?
Nursing informatics has aided in the adoption of technology like as EMRs and automated provider order input in healthcare. Nursing informatics is a nursing specialty that combines nursing, technology, and information sciences to preserve and build medical data systems to enhance nursing practice and improve patient care results (Newbold, 2018). HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) has been a global consultant and thought leader in healthcare information and technology for decades. Understanding the critical significance that this specialization plays in today’s healthcare professionals.
What is the Role of a Nurse Informaticist?
Nursing informatics professionals are translators who have grown into MedTech innovators who can do the following. Firstly, they explain why the processes exist when a nurse informaticist discusses the significance of detailing specific observations and measurements (for example, height, mass, and allergies). They understand the long-term effects of omitted variables on a person’s overall health and perceive more responsibility for collecting accurate data. (Egbert et al., 2019). Moreover, they introduce new technology and procedures; a competent nurse informaticist oversees the implementation of a new procedure from start to finish, ensuring the success of all team members. Their third role is in data validation, whereby a nurse informaticist recognizes the actual amount of information (clinical records and test findings) and numerous data sources for organizational decision-making.
Nurse Informaticists and Other Health Care Organizations
Although nursing informatics competencies are viewed as vital, graduate nurses frequently display insufficient IT expertise. It can add to businesses’ desire to implement the job of a nursing informaticist (Peltonen et al., 2019). As a result, healthcare organizations may view nurse informaticists as a valued workforce resource capable of effectively transferring IT knowledge to care professionals. Nurse informaticists prioritize patient safety, improve care, and assist clinical nurses. They are logical thinkers who are dedicated to ensuring that nurse managers are knowledgeable about available options.
What is the Experience of Other Healthcare Care Organizations?
Nurse informaticists have mostly favorable experiences in healthcare organizations. This is because their aid can improve staff members’ digital literacy and make health systems more user-friendly (Tyler, 2019). For example, there is proof that the existence of nurse power users is associated with the success of EHR programs and end-user involvement in transformation. Moreover, during the epidemic, there was a surge in the use of health information systems in Canada. There has been a movement in Western Canada for virtual health groups to enhance the capacity for virtual appointments (Atique et al., 2020). Because of the rapid creation and deployment of digital services, nursing informaticians have had to take the lead on most of this work. In addition, virtual education tools have been developed to assist nurses, nursing students, and retired nurses joining frontline health care to support COVID-19 activities.
How Do These Nurse Informaticists Interact with the Rest of the Nursing Staff and Interdisciplinary Team?
Nurse informaticists are required to proactively connect with other nurses and interdisciplinary teams to perform their obligations, and this interaction frequently takes the form of regular appointments. Such sessions are often interdisciplinary, with nurse informaticists or administrators serving as leaders and fostering a collaborative environment. Consequently, it encourages all participants to express any concerns about currently employed EHR systems or to request additional answers (Tyler, 2019). Informaticians bring value to problems involving data or information by employing competencies in the management and use of genomic data.
Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology
How Does Fully Engaging Nurses in Health Care Technology Impact
Patient Care
It is possible to track patients using current technologies. Data manipulation technologies that enable patient follow-up enable healthcare practitioners to intervene rapidly with immediate communication of essential changes in the patient, lowering the risk of medical errors (Javaid et al., 2021). This was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic which gave room for nurses and the interdisciplinary team to decipher medical device signals based on a patient’s condition.
Protected Health Information (Security, Privacy, Confidentiality)
To ensure the safety of PHI, healthcare companies must also install security measures such as encryption algorithms, security protocols, and systems for controlling access. Furthermore, nurses or other practitioners can educate patients on their rights to Protected Health Information (PHI), like the right to access, inspect, and receive copies of their medical records. Nurses and other members of the interdisciplinary team should also create procedures and guidelines to preserve patient data. A risk mitigation plan should be in place, Lastly, and it should include identifying potential risks connected with PHI, evaluating those risks, and devising strategies to minimize those risks through the implementation of appropriate controls or activities.
Workflow
The Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System case study highlights how extra capabilities integrated into hospitals’ EHR systems reduce the time nurses need to collect patient information and send patients to other specialists, thus enhancing hospital clinical operations (Nelson, 2019). Since the IT department modified the EHRs to be more compact, most nurses remarked that paperwork was streamlined and efficient.
Costs and Investment Returns
Nursing informaticists can help lower medical errors and their associated expenses in a healthcare system. The American Medical Institute estimates the physical, financial, and societal consequences of medical errors in the U. S. to be between $17-$29 billion (Polancich, 2019). They can be reduced by using technology that improves coordination among healthcare providers and significantly reduces medical error costs.
Opportunities and Challenges
Opportunities and Challenges for Nurses and the Interdisciplinary Team with the Addition of a Nurse Informaticist Role?
With the inclusion of a nurse informaticist function, nurses and interdisciplinary teams will have more options. Nurses, for example, will profit from this new position by receiving access to staff training on how to employ technology to improve patient benefits. Next, before taking on this new duty, the plurality of nurse informaticists worked in clinical settings (Nelson, 2019). Resistance to adopting technological methods within their scope of work is one of the challenges that the interdisciplinary team plus nurses are likely to face. However, one significant method to address this is to involve employees in the design and implementation of technology.
How Can the Interdisciplinary Team Collaborate to Improve Quality Care Outcomes Through Technology?
From the guidance of an informaticist, technologists and nurses can jointly use data to make precise decisions, and maneuvering becomes quicker. Glasgow (2018) noted that nurses should not only be users of modern technology for care in the future but also play a more proactive part in the changing clinical environment, research design, the creation of new health gadgets, and regulations governing care techniques (Glasgow et al., 2018). The National League for Nursing urged for action in 2015 to improve nurses’ awareness of technological applications and to equip nursing care facilities for the long term.
Conclusion
There are nearly too many reasons why hiring a nursing informaticist is beneficial. Nurse informaticists, such as other healthcare professionals (pharmacists, physicians, among others), play an essential role in the ongoing development and improvement of healthcare. Key takeaways would be, first, health information technology with manipulation by informaticists reduces a hospital’s incidence mortality rate by a factor of 0.5 per year, or 117 fatalities, demonstrating significant social benefits for this population (McKenna et al., 2018). Secondly, the involvement of nurse informaticists in the development and improvement of technologies such as electronic health records and automated provider ordering has been critical in lowering medical errors, patient safety delays, and healthcare expenditures. Thirdly, nurse informaticists have a strong understanding of the demands and strains of the clinical workflow, and their training and background in information systems and data insights allow them to shape health IT architecture into something useful. Communication is a key aspect in a hospital’s functioning; therefore, having the master in the ground is the way to go.
References
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