Jan Kathleen N.

Rafols Nursing Informatics Lecture

ANSWERS:

1. Healthcare data management is the process of storing, protecting, and analyzing data
pulled from diverse sources. Managing the wealth of available healthcare data allows
health systems to create holistic views of patients, personalize treatments, improve
communication, and enhance health outcomes. In Nursing Informatics, it is the process of
integrating technology for the better management of nursing information. The goal of
nursing informatics is to improve the health of the people as well as the communities
while reducing costs. Healthcare has been changing tremendously in terms of technology
and innovation by storing data, information and knowledge in computer programs and
software to assist health care providers across the continuum to provide high-quality, safe
patient care. The development of healthcare into the digital age has helped improve
healthcare by increasing efficiency with decreased wait times and reducing medical
errors. Nurses require components of practice, education, training, and research, and
support the legitimacy of the practice and the general competencies to specialize in
informatics.
2. The environments in healthcare have an increase in the use of technology such as mobile
computers and wireless solutions, and automated exchanges between providers and
patients. Adapting to these new environments requires a shift for how care is
communicated and delivered, which requires knowledge of the evolution of new
technologies. Nurses are at the center of this advancement as the professionals with the
greatest amount of direct patient care. Informatics is being used to address the challenges
of the day in different areas of nursing, significantly impacting the way nurses function in
patient care.
a) Student Nurse
Nursing students might have different educational backgrounds and
different practice experience thus their informatics preparation is relevant and
nursing curricula must reflect this variation while advancing students towards
informatics proficiency. The skills that would be developed in this education by
the nursing students will help them prepare their role as a practicing nurse.
Nursing Informatics addressed the need for a change to enhance the nursing
students’ readiness to provide high-quality care in today’s technology-driven
health care environment. Nurse educators should determine specific areas of
informatics content that need greater focus and inclusion in the curriculum for
better nursing educational programs. In addition, it was noted for helping in-
service training and online distance education.
b) Registered Nurses
Advances in technology helps healthcare providers in collecting,
analyzing and to leverage data more effectively, influencing the way care is
delivered, and how resources are managed. Nursing informatics influenced the
nursing practice by tracking patient outcomes, finding data trends, and in
assessing workload and interventions. The practice of nursing informatics allows
nurses to understand the process they use to convert raw data into the evaluation
of the health information collected for the implementation of interventions.
knowledge of nursing information systems can be used with nursing practice such
as patient documentation, monitoring devices, developing and implementing care
plans and pathways, retrieval of previous records and imaging, use of telehealth,
and access to current practice standards. The incorporation of computers into
nursing in many developing countries such as the Philippines, though essential,
has been on a decline growth.
c) Healthcare Delivery System
The establishment of Nursing Informatics transform nursing profession in
a positive and innovative force for the improvement of the healthcare delivery
system. Nursing Informatics benefits the healthcare delivery system by the
administration of information systems that are used with communication; staff
scheduling systems, cost and budget analysis, and monitoring of trends with
quality and satisfaction data for improved outcomes.
i. Increased Communication and Coordination- Informatics simplifies
communication. New healthcare technology enables clinicians to text,
email and instant message. Clinician-to-clinician communication is
now faster and easier than ever before, helping nurses and other
clinicians spend more time with patients and less time having to track
each other down to communicate about patients.
ii. Cost and budget analysis- It’s estimated that half of all medical
expenditures are squandered on account of repeat procedures, the
expenses associated with more traditional methods of sharing
information, delays in care, errors in care or delivery, and the like.
With an electronic and connected system in place, much of that waste
can be curbed. From lab results that reach their destination sooner
improving better and more timely care delivery to reduced malpractice
claims, health informatics reduces errors, increases communication,
and drives efficiency where before there was costly incompetence and
obstruction.
iii. Improved Outcomes- The most important way in which informatics is
changing health care is in improved outcomes. Electronic medical
records result in higher quality care and safer care as coordinated
teams provide better diagnoses and decrease the chance for errors.
 Furthermore, new technologies offer access and opportunities to provide
quality care to patients in remote settings. The field of health informatics depends
largely on healthcare professionals to provide the impetus and the information
required to create tools that are necessary and to ensure that they provide the
solutions that will improve healthcare and the lives of patients. As a healthcare
practitioner serving a rural population, you cannot only take advantage of these
advances, but you can also have a hand in creating and supporting them.