Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation

Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper Nursing informatics is a combination of cognitive science, computer science, information science, and nursing science. It includes the development, analysis, and evaluation of information systems augmented by technologies that support, enhance and manage patient care. In practice, students have an opportunity to observe, apply, analyze, and practice processes and skills relevant to nursing informatics. The Nursing Informatics concentration stresses the development of leadership in nursing.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper Permalink: https://nursingpaperessays.com/ role-of-the-nurs…entation-paper / ? Career opportunities for graduates with this specialty are numerous. Informatics nurses are involved in practice, education, research, administration, and consultation and can work in public, private, or corporate settings. There are three different options in Nursing Informatics; a major: a minor, and Post-Professional certificate. All may be completed on a full or part-time basis. Informatics Online Building on the strength and reputation of its graduate programs, the School of Nursing is offering a MSN with the Nursing Informatics area of concentration online. The interactive online classroom, led by University of Pittsburgh faculty, provides opportunities for active learning, discussion, problem solving, debating, critical thinking, research, networking, and community building. One much-discussed topic in modern health care is informatics, the application of computers and information technology to health care. A fundamental competency in informatics is especially important for nurses. They are the largest health care profession, with over 2.7 million registered nurses and a further 750,000 licensed practical and vocational nurses practicing in the United States as of 2011. For contemporary nurses to achieve their full career potential, there are several reasons they need to embrace informatics.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper Electronic Health Records One of the most fundamental reasons for nurses to focus on informatics is the advent of the national system of electronic health records. Then-President Bush announced the initiative in 2004, with a target date of 2014 for implementation. This electronic system will make it necessary for all nurses to have a basic familiarity with computer systems to carry out their day-to-day duties of administration and patient care. At a minimum, nurses need to know how to document a patient’s care and observe appropriate privacy precautions on the hospital’s computer system. Technology in Practice Increasingly powerful microprocessors have made it possible for a new generation of smartphones, tablet computers and specialized medical devices to play a role in daily patient care. As front-line care providers, technologically savvy nurses in all clinical specialties will play a crucial role in field-testing new devices and their corresponding software applications. Some might even find work as consultants to software developers working on applications for the health care market. Advancement Ambitious nurses have a number of career paths open to them in management, consulting, research and academia. Good computer skills, ranging from the use of industry-specific software to commercial programs including Word, Excel, Access and Visio, are important to all of these career paths. Nascent informatics certifications are available for those seeking advancement in their careers. It’s now a recognized nursing specialty, offered in formal training programs. The Healthcare Management and Information Systems Society, a non-profit informatics training organization, also offers a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems credential to qualified health care professionals. Education One of the gravest responsibilities in any knowledge-based profession is passing that knowledge to a new generation of practitioners. The next generation of nurse educators will need a solid grounding in nursing informatics to teach new nurses the computer skills they’ll need in the workplace. This will also be crucial for more experienced educators, especially those who came late to computer use and must expend extra time and effort on the necessary professional upgrades and continuing education. Being successful in the field of Nursing Informatics takes a combination of different skills. Clinicians already have many of these skills, but there are several that she or he will still need to develop as well. Here is a run-down of some of the most important ones:Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper CLINICAL EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCE Clinical experience is the foundation of a clinician’s effectiveness in the Informatics field stands. A nurse who transitions to the Informatics field must first of all have an adequate amount of clinical experience, preferably in a variety of settings, in order to be able to analyze and decide with confidence how certain technical functionality can be applied in the clinical setting. The Informatics nurse is often designated, and expected, to be the bridge between the clinical and technical world, and speak the language of each fluently. It would be very difficult for an Informatics Nurse to “talk the talk” of clinicians, if he or she has not had sufficient clinical experience. Without this base of experience, a nurse can only theorize and imagine the impact of technology at the bedside. This is not to say that some nurses with very little experience will not be successful in the Informatics field, because there are examples of such professionals. However, those nurses are rare and they have other skills and knowledge that balance their lack of experience. However, for the vast majority, a solid background in the clinical setting, and competence in the basics of related workflows, helps ensure future success in the Informatics arena. CRITICAL THINKING, ANALYSIS, AND PROBLEM-SOLVING The unique value that a clinician brings to any Nursing Informatics role is his or her experience in patient care. Because of that, a clinician is expected to be able to think through problems or issues and analyze them based on this wealth of knowledge and experience. They are expected not only to understand and accept technical functionality, but to analyze and even sometimes question the validity of the functionality, in light of their knowledge of clinical workflows, best practices, and regulatory standards.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper TECHNICAL/COMPUTER SKILLS While an Informatics Nurse may not be the technical expert of a project team, by the nature of the work she or he is expected to have some kind of technical aptitude. Informatics nurses should be able to perform their own analysis and offer suggestions to resolve issues, and this is more effective when they have a certain store of training, experience, and understanding of how certain technical functionality works. As the liaison between the clinical end-users and the more technical members of the team, informatics nurses are expected to be able to wrap their head around technical functionality and limitations. They are also expected to know how to use business productivity tools such as document-creation software, spreadsheets, email systems, and project tracking tools, among others. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE SKILLS One of the things that an Informatics Nurse will need to do on a daily basis is write and answer emails. Clinicians must remember that business correspondence is different from personal correspondence, and take the necessary steps to learn the basics of business communication. The main thing to remember with business correspondence is to always be professional. This may sound very easy and common-sense, but it is a business etiquette rule that many professionals break at one time or another. Being professional means always being careful with an email’s tone, and to aim to be respectful and cordial even in stressful or emotionally charged situations. One rule of thumb is to never put in a business email anything that can be damaging when forwarded, either intentionally or unintentionally. This also includes avoiding sarcasm at all cost, because on email it is often very difficult to identify this communication mode, and it can often be misunderstood and taken literally. Avoid writing all capitals, which in email is generally considered shouting – even when the intention was simply to emphasize a point, that may not be what comes across to the recipient(s).Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper There are other helpful rules which you can find here and here. INTERPERSONAL SKILLS From nursing school, most nurses are taught that interpersonal skills are some of the most important skills clinicians can have, right up there with clinical competence. Nurses are trained and expected to care, not just perform procedures, create plans, or implement orders. The interpersonal skills that a clinician develops when dealing with patients and their families, as well the the other members of the healthcare team, are very useful and highly portable into the Nursing Informatics field. This includes the ability to listen actively and with empathy, collaborate proactively, and negotiate assertively. PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS As mentioned in another post, project management skills are important in any Nursing Informatics role. It doesn’t matter whether your title has the phrase “project management” in it or not – at some point most Informatics Nurses will be called on to be part of projects, and having the necessary project management skills will be advantageous whether they are a team member or a team lead. Fortunately, the Project Management process is very similar to the Nursing Process. The main difference is most probably in the tools being used – while nurses use the care planning tools and methods to initiate, execute, and evaluate a plan of care, Informatics Nursing professionals may use a variety of business productivity tools to perform the same process. Nurses are at forefront to change the face of healthcare as they take a step forward in successful implementation of Health IT. It has been observed that with digitalization, adoption of IT in healthcare has followed the same pattern as in other fields. It was during 1950s that the new technology was utilized to automate standardized and repetitive tasks like accounting and payroll. Healthcare also used IT to process statistical data. After twenty years,­ similar IT revolution took over the world. It did affect the health care with the introduction of electronic health care. Though biotechnology has continued to advance in terms of disease management, the IT application in terms of health care management is still in its infancy.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper Some healthcare institutions have moved beyond and have gone to stage of full digitalization, incorporating IT in services sector, channels, and processes, as well as advanced analytics that enable entirely new operating models. Nursing informatics is emerging as promising field with a challenge being thrown at the professionals to understand and participate in the field of Health IT with efficient training and leadership. The facilities provided by digitalization are enormous. It has opened many avenues for the patients to utilize healthcare facilities proficiently. A patient can now access an application to look for a disease related information, seek opinion from any specialist globally, manage appointments and access electronic health record for previous disease history. However, it has been observed that the patients can have reservations about sharing health related information with professionals online and may not be comfortable about their health-related information being available on the internet. To strengthen this, collaborative effort towards e-health, it is obligatory to improve the standards in health care information and digitalization. This adoption of electronic interaction between patients and professionals, demands an active involvement of healthcare professionals in the development process as well as implementation of quality clinical applications. Nurses are eager to improve clinical processes through adoption of Health IT. Measurement of essential quality improvement standards like patient safety, strategic development, monitoring and efficient reporting involve more prompt systems like well-defined clinical decision support systems and integrated patient care records where active engagement of clinical professionals is indispensable. Digitalization has immensely benefited all, by providing the opportunity to have access to patient care information through user-centered electronic medical records. On a macro level, information management systems have opened doors of research, monitoring and pivotal public health. Nursing is the central component to efficient patient care. Electronic health record (EHR) must be maintained by the nurses, being the connecting link between professionals. As per HIMSS the role of nurse has grown beyond helping the IT folks design electronic medical record (EMR) screens and choose equipment. It is now an integral part of the healthcare delivery and a differentiating factor in the selection, implementation, and evaluation of health IT in order to support safe, high quality, patient-centric care. Nursing and Information System Management: The information systems used by healthcare organizations like admission, discharge, order entry, clinical documentation, communication system and critical pathways require professional guidance as the data collected is utilized in variant clinical systems. The current focus areas in nursing informatics are standardizing terminologies, clinical decision support, patient safety, data exchange and interoperability, and clinical quality measures. It has been emphasized that standard nursing terminologies can be used in patient care systems as it would make documentation process more understandable. The basic principles for successful implementation of any software are the same. One word to define a good software would be ‘user friendly’. User friendly software in healthcare would be the one which would have the following features:Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper · Easy to understand · Requires minimal effort at the user end · Is clinically relevant · Provides easily retrievable information Nurse informaticists are required to be part of the development process of software as they understand clinical flow and patient care processes better. This becomes more relevant as EHR are now looked upon as not only a source of convenience, but a mode to enhance patient care processes and quality improvement. Nurses working in clinical setting are in a better position to judge whether a software is useful and facilitates patient care, or just adds to the burden of formality for the healthcare professionals. Involvement of nurses could also address common problems that may arise due to ill-designed software, as well as ensure better allocation of healthcare resources. The need of nurses to be a part of the software development process has long being recognized. It is important that nurses be involved in selection, development and implementation of any system. (Glancey TS, Brooks GM, Vaughan VS, 1990). Software Development Phases: Software development is a step wise process, which is targeted to plan and develop a software. System development life cycle is a term used to define the various phases in development of a software. Following are the phases of software development Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper Fig 1: System development cycle 1. Understanding the Problem: Before a product is developed for healthcare professionals, the software developers need to understand the need of the users. The users in healthcare involve frontline nurses in majority as nurses coordinate and conduct a lot of patient care related activities. Clinical nurse leaders and managers can contribute significantly in explaining and putting the requirement in a coherent manner so that the product that comes out is not redundant. Involvement of nurses in initial phases of software development would ensure a better product which is different and more relevant clinically (Plochg and Hamer, 2012). Nurses need to participate in initial stages to identify improvement areas for quality patient care, where IT can contribute. For example, development of standard operating procedures to prevent medication errors, antibiotic resistance etc. engagement of nurses here, will be helpful in tracking such important areas. Nurses can take up roles of project and operation manager to supervise the project plan and provide strategic guidance towards product development. 2. Coding Planned Solution: The next step in software development cycle is to code the program i.e. translating it into the program language. A software developer can understand the requirements but there are many terminologies that may require the guidance of a healthcare professionals for example use of medical terminology or patient care data relevant to acuity system which can create a false clinical picture if not put aptly. A standardized nursing language used in patient care systems must be defined in order to be able to communicate patient care information accurately among nurses and other healthcare providers. Nurses must work closely with the IT team for defining standardized nursing terminology to outline and define the nursing scope in patient care and hence reflect on the healthcare software. As we know that the terminology used by medical professionals and nurses may vary in terms of patient care and expected outcome, hence it is necessary to have clear language instructions in healthcare software. Nurse informaticist can learn coding and take up the role of a coder. It would enhance collaboration and understanding between the software team and healthcare professionals. It would also ensure effective integration of technology into practice.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper 3. Testing actual program: Clinical nurses are the best judge to assess the positive aspects and to identify the challenges that may hinder the functioning of software created for patient care. It is important for the decision makers to involve nurses before a system or software is adopted as nurses remain important link to many clinical processes in healthcare (O’Cathain A, Sampson FC, Munro JF, Thomas KJ, Nicholl JP, 2004). Testing is an important phase as a system’s design can greatly influence its acceptability by the users. An example is the use of learning management system for online learning (Table 1). The sections defined are essential fields under any e-learning platform that need to be organized well. When such platforms are used for healthcare professionals, that role of nurse becomes more important as they would be able to contribute highly to identification of innovative strategies for making it successful. Nurse informatics can take up role of a test analyst or a tester to check the credibility of software. Nurses conventionally are involved in beta testing of software which means that they test the software as users. Now is the time that the nursing professionals take up primary roles as they can participate in alpha testing when the product is tested before it is available for implementation. 4. Deployment and Maintenance of Product: The last step is to implement the solution in the clinical setting. This phase is the most interesting and challenging part of the process. The software is adopted and used by many users. Usually, at this stage, the system encounters unthinkable problems as the IT goes live. The system may or may not produce desired results as expected. A well-designed system can be exploited to extract information in multiple dimension and various clinical processes. The guidance at this point cannot be ignored in order to smart track data using checklists, nursing alerts and clinical guidelines that promote evidence-based practices. Data can be structured systematically to check performance through dashboards and compliance records. At this point, the system is utilized to understand the information obtained as multiple users use the system. The system can track progress of individual user and identify problems faced by them in using the system. For example, a software is developed with an intent to save nursing time, but the data indicates otherwise as the nurses are not comfortable using the system and find it difficult to access. Such problems can be identified when the software is put in action in the clinical setting. Nurses can not only identify such issues but would be in better position to suggest an alternative that is more practical and clinically relevant. Nurses can work as solution architects to guide the team about development of software as per client’s requirement and improvise it with time.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper Nurses Need to be Involved in Software Development: In the current scenario, nurses are a part of the process only when the software is tested and at later stages when the software is ready to be deployed throughout the organization. The issues like interaoperability are already producing a glitch for healthcare. Nurse informaticists has listed it as one of the key areas of research in near future. But the question remains that if the nurses are not involved in software development process, how would such issues be addressed. Another problem commonly encountered as highlighted earlier is the system being not user friendly. The argument here is, who is the best to suggest what suits the users? The answer is ‘the user’; someone who will be using it in the clinical setting for the patient care. Clinical nursing leaders do participate in earlier stages and provide consultation to vendors. Nurses must be involved in the earlier stages of software development cycle in order to have an efficient system which literally translates the language of health into the software being used. Implementation and adoption of such systems require identification of champions or problem solvers. Yet nurses are still portrayed as professionals who are not willing to adopt technology readily, which causes another hurdle for their involvement in this process. The responsibility to break this stereotype remains not only with leaders but also with the frontline nurses. Frontline nurses can coherently put forward requirements such as recording of content, format of content, linkage with other systems, reporting capabilities of the system, access and training implementation.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation Assume you are a nurse manager on a unit where a new nursing documentation system is to be implemented. You want to ensure that the system will be usable and acceptable for the nurses impacted. You realize a nurse leader must be on the implementation team. To Prepare: Review the steps of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and reflect on the scenario presented. Consider the benefits and challenges associated with involving a nurse leader on an implementation team for health information technology. The Assignment: (2 pages) In preparation of filling this role, develop a 2 pages role description for a graduate-level nurse to guide his/her participation on the implementation team. The role description should be based on the SDLC stages and tasks and should clearly define how this individual will participate in and impact each of the following steps: The discussion addresses the role of the nurse in the Systems Development Life Cycle. After you have reviewed the course resources, please submit your initial post describing the following: Describe the role of the nurse in each stage of the SDLC when purchasing and implementing a new health information technology system Provide specific examples of potential issues at each stage of the SDLC, describe how nurses may be part of the solution Explain whether you had any input in the selection and planning of new health information technology systems in your nursing practice. Explain potential impacts of being included or excluded in the decision- making process By Day 7 Submit your completed Role Description. Nurses has been working in the field of informatics near four decades, the term “nursing informatics” has been considered a specialization in nursing resources since 1984 (Guenther & Peters, 2006). Many aspects such as data recovery, ethics, patient care, decision support systems, human-computer interaction, information systems, imaging informatics, computer science, information science, security, electronic patient records, intelligent systems, e-learning and telenursing have been added to the field. Hana has defined Nursing Informatics as the application of IT in the nursing duties including education, management & practice in 1985. Integration of information science, computer science and nursing science to support nursing practice and knowledge management was the definition offered in 1989 by Graves and Corcoran. The American Nurses Association (ANA) published its aim and standards in 1994-1995 and presented the Nursing Informatics as a specialty that integrates nursing science, computer and information science to provide data communication management, knowledge and nursing work in 2001. Now most of nursing professionals believe that it is defined as the integration of information technology and all aspects of nursing such as clinical nursing, management, research or education (Guenther & Peters, 2006).Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper 1.2 Competencies The competency of nursing informatics specialists was determined through studying three categories including computer skills, informatics knowledge and informatics skills. It investigates four levels of nursing practice: beginning nurse, experienced nurse, informatics specialist, and informatics innovator. The following competencies were rejected: diagnostic coding, desktop publishing, managing central facilities to enable data sharing and writing an original computer program (Staggers et al., 2002). Some components of accepted competencies are shown below in brief. 1.2.1 Computer Skills Selected computer skill competencies contain computerized searches and retrieving patient demographics data, the use of telecommunication devices, the documentation of patient care, the use of information technologies for improving nursing care, and the use of networks and computer technology safely. 1.2.2 Informatics Knowledge Selected informatics knowledge competencies are the recognition of the use or importance of nursing data for improving practice, and the recognition of the fact that the computer can only facilitate nursing care and that there are human functions that cannot be performed by computers, the formulation of ethical decisions in computing, the recognition of the value of clinicians’ involvement in the design, selection, implementation, and evaluation of systems in health care, the description of the present manual systems, the definition of the impact of computerized information management on the role of the nurse and the determination of the limitations and the reliability of computerized patient monitoring systems.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper 1.2.3 Informatics Skills Informatics skills competencies includes the interpretation of information flow within the organization, the preparation of process information flow charts for all aspects of clinical systems, the development of standards and database structures to facilitate clinical care, education, administration or research. It also includes the development of innovative and analytic techniques for scientific inquiry in nursing informatics and new data organizing methods and research designs with the aim of examining the impacts of computer technology on nursing, and the conducting of basic science research to support the theoretical development of informatics. Information literacy skills, competencies, and knowledge are investigated among educators, administrators and clinicians of nursing groups nationally. 1.3 The Importance of Nursing Informatics The history, definition and competencies of nursing informatics indicate the importance of this field. It shows nurses are integrated into the field of IT automatically. So they should be able to deal with it successfully to improve quality of care outcome. In this regard it is required to study the influence of nursing informatics on health care and make bold the appropriate information technology educational needs for nurses.Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper An extensive literature search was performed by using databases Pubmed, Google Scholar, Ovid, Science Direct and SID. Search terms were “education, nursing”; “quality of health care”; “nursing informatics” and technology. The study was carried out from January to April, 2014. A library search was also performed. As many as 135 articles were retrieved. With a critical point of view, 40 articles in English were selected that specifically focused on nursing informatics education and its influence on nursing outcomes and the quality of health care (Staggers et al., 2002). The study mentions the followings as the key elements of nursing informatics implementation:Role Of The Nurse Informaticist In The Systems Development And Implementation Paper 3.1 Health Care Promotion The advantages of applying information technology in all aspects of nursing, including clinical areas, management, education and research and its influence on health care have been reviewed. Today, the subjects of clinical nursing information systems, decision support systems and medical diagnostic systems are associated with collecting patient information. Regarding the technology-rich environment, health care and hospital information systems developers, the quality of care is improving. For increasing patient safety and its leading to an evidence-based nursing, nursing informatics has been enhanced for students and graduates by Columbia school of nursing. The study has proved that informatics competence is a prerequisite to improving patient care (Bakken et al., 2003). Technology and using multimedia integrated into nursing curriculum can promote the use of informatics tools as an integral practice component and increase patient safety (Norton et al., 2006). Managers can improve efficiency and performance through information systems and new technologies. In addition, several studies have confirmed the impact of careful shift planning and efficient management on nurse’s work and the quality of health care. Information is the source of all management activities. Nursing care is an industry service and its product is patient care. Information technology can promote the nursing management outcome. Internet-based nurse scheduling systems are mostly designed according to the self-scheduling model and need refining by the manager who overviews proper distribution, it causes uniform resource allocation in scheduling and increases patient direct care time (Pierce et al., 2003). Implementing information systems can provide better access to evidence; it can affect the patient care quality and support evidence-based nursing. Software tools to facilitate research are available in all medical fields (Kardan & Darvish, 2008). Nursing information system had an influence on clinical patterns and decreased the time nurses spent on indirect care (Darvish & Salsali, 2010). This is critical to the health care professionals to assess, apply, report and manage data by the help of new tools of the information age (Hall, 1995). 3.2 Advanced

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