Nursing informatics

• Informatics nurses are responsible for managing these systems and ensuring their effective implementation.
• Healthcare organizations use IT systems such as electronic health records (EHRs), computerized provider order entry (CPOE), telemedicine, and decision support systems (DSS).
• Nursing informatics involves using information technology (IT) tools to manage data related to healthcare delivery.
• Healthcare organizations use IT systems such as electronic health records (EHRs), computerized provider order entry (CPOE), telemedicine, and decision support systems (DSS).
• Assessment involves gathering data about the client's health status through observation, interview, examination, and testing.
• Nurses use the nursing process as an organized approach to planning and delivering quality patient care.
• Effective communication, collaboration, knowledge management, and decision support are key nursing informatics competencies.
• Nurses need to have knowledge of electronic health records, computerized decision support, and clinical systems to promote patient safety and quality of care.
• Nurses must demonstrate proficiency in critical thinking, information and communication technologies, and information literacy.
• The nursing process is the framework used to organize, plan, implement, evaluate, and document patient care.
• Computer-based information systems have become an integral part of modern healthcare practice.
• Technology literacy involves understanding how information technologies work and being familiar with various types of hardware and software.
• Nurses must be familiar with these technologies and how they impact healthcare delivery.
• Computer literacy includes basic computer skills such as using word processing software, spreadsheets, databases, and presentation programs.
• Nursing students are expected to:

  • Understand the role of nursing informatics in community health care
  • Improve collaboration among doctors, community health providers, and patients
  • Monitor and track the health status of the community
  • Reduce paperwork for community health workers by using nursing informatics
• Advantages of Nursing Informatics in Community Health:

  • Easy tracking and detection of diseases in the community
  • Strong communication among nurses and other healthcare providers
  • Quick and efficient collection and analysis of health data
  • Sharing public health information more quickly with other regions
  • Monitoring community needs more effectively
• Advantages of Integration of Community Health Systems:

  • Consistent exchange of response
  • Disease tracking
  • Data and information sharing
  • Building strategies
  • Early detection and monitoring of disease and sickness
  • Control of spread of disease
  • National alertness and preparedness
  • Building strong communication
• Public health informatics is the systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning
• Public health informatics focuses on populations, collecting, analyzing, and disseminating population-level data to support preventive interventions
• The demarcation between public health and clinical healthcare systems is often blurred, especially with legislation supporting the building of information systems for health
• The Privacy Rule in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prohibits disclosure of an individual's medical record without authorization, except for public health purposes
• The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) establishes policies and standards to facilitate enrollment in health and human services programs
• Public Health Informaticians (PHIs) use informatics to improve population health, requiring expertise beyond basic informatics skills
• The role of the Public Health Nurse Informatician (PHNI) combines informatics and nursing science to improve public health surveillance and clinical care information access
• PHNIs support the use of nursing datasets for effective clinical care in community surveillance programs and ensure data adequacy for population groups
• Public health workers collect data on health determinants and risks to inform interventions and decisions for promoting population health
• There is a need for rapid and comprehensive data access across system boundaries in public health surveillance
• Objectives of Hospital and Critical Care Application:

  • Enhance Patient Monitoring and Surveillance
  • Develop and implement informatics solutions for real-time monitoring of critical care patients
  • Integrate advanced monitoring technologies with electronic health records (EHR) for comprehensive patient data
  • Implement algorithms and alerts to detect early signs of deterioration and prompt intervention
  • Streamline documentation processes through electronic nursing documentation systems tailored to critical care settings
• Nursing Informatics as a discipline:

  • Nursing Informatics is an established specialty within nursing
  • Its definition shapes the specialty, guides role descriptions, and recommends components of practice, education, training, and research
  • Supports the legitimacy of the practice and the general competencies of a nurse specializing in informatics
• Nursing Informatics integrates nursing information and knowledge with technology to manage and integrate health information

  • Goal: Improve the health of people and communities while reducing costs
• Overview of Critical Care:

  • Intensive care units (ICUs) provide care to patients with severe, life-threatening injuries or illnesses
  • ICUs have higher nurse-to-patient ratios and provide specialized treatments like life support
• Timeline of computers in the ICU:

  • Started with the introduction of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) in 1946
  • Evolution of clinical information management systems in hospitals
  • Development of EMR systems like the Problem Oriented Medical Record (POMR) and Health Evaluation through Logical Processing (HELP)
  • Introduction of computer systems for streamlined business operations in academic institutions
• In the 1980s, computers were introduced into the operating room, with Gravenstein introducing computerized anesthesia records in 1986
• These records allowed for more reliable collection, storage, and presentation of data during the perioperative period
• In the 1990s, ICU systems improved significantly with increased clinical functionality and Internet access
• Web-based software using Web browsers displayed the user interface and supported simple queries of cumulative patient data
• Vendors migrated technology from the OR to create large enterprise systems, now known as Clinical Information Systems
• Informatics allows easy access to patient data and electronic medical records
• Computers speed up the diagnosis and treatment process, improving health outcomes
• Doctors and nurses can provide better patient care while reducing overhead costs through informatics