One may wonder, what does
technology and informatics have to do with nursing? Well nursing involves delivering
a service, making sure that patients are safe, and the care that they receive
is simply the best. What better way than to utilize technology to ensure that
all of those standards are met. Back in the day, where paper charting was the
only option communication among multidisciplinary fields was extremely
difficult. Today, in the 21st
century, we have advanced technology, super speed communication, and the
ability to share information and knowledge instantly. The management of
information and communication technologies will promote health in ways that we've
never imagined! Healthcare informatics is a way of
globally integrating researchers, clinical care, educators, consultants, information
technology, policy makers, and healthcare providers which will promote the best
practice in healthcare. (IMIA, 2015) Healthcare is advanced through informatics
in ways such as using evidenced based practice and research, a national data
and communication infrastructure, research that turns ideas into practice, accessable
information, and knowledge on inter-professionals from across the world. (AMIA,
2015) Being able to access information at the touch of a button enables different fields to interact with one another and ensure an efficient and continuous healthcare
delivery cycle.
Nurses are constantly swamped with
patients, a number of different tasks, making sure their patients are safe,
charting, talking to family members and doctors, and many many more. The
implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) has improved quality,
safety, and efficiency of care delivered through increased productivity,
improved performance, enhanced effectiveness, and supported clinical care and
research. (Nelson & Stagger, p.g. 97) The EHR has an alert system that notifies
the nurse of any missed task, upcoming procedure, medication error possibility,
just to name a few. This new alert system helps a nurse maintain organized to
decrease events such as medication error and essentially increase patient
safety and safe delivery of health care services. Learning about healthcare
informatics will equip nurses and other healthcare providers with clinical
skills, information technology, leadership, and management skills that will
ensure a progressively better healthcare delivery system that is patient
centered.
References
IMIA. The IMIA
Vision | IMIA - International Medical Informatics Association. (n.d.).
Retrieved April 3, 2015, from http://www.imia-medinfo.org/new2/node/31
Nelson, R. &
Staggers. (2014). Health informatics: An interprofessional approach (Vol. 1).
St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier/Mosby.
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