Beth Martin RE: Discussion – Week 1
Module 1 Healthcare Technology
Healthcare Information Technology is always evolving and changes rapidly in today’s world. All healthcare workers rely on HIT to do a large portion of their job. One of the main reasons nurses need data to take care of patients is safety (Glassman, 2017). When we use previous data to show what has worked or has not worked previously with patients, nurses can then make decisions on their practice efforts based on these results. Previous experience or knowledge can also be used to provide effective data (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). Healthcare is always evolving and information changes continuously (Laureate,2018). There are various ways data is used in nursing to improve safety. Data can pull together with information about a patient and alert the nurse that they may be a fall risk, or that their vital signs and labs may show patient deterioration.
One-way nurses can use data is to provide safe patient assignments based on acuity. Staffing and heavy patient loads are one of the leading causes of nurse burnout. Turnover of nurses is not only costly; it can cause an increase in patient dissatisfaction and safety concerns and the continuum of care is not happening. Having a high acuity of patients can also be a safety issue as the nurse is not able to deliver adequate care to each of his or her patients. The use of the EHR could help with collecting pertinent information to see how much time a patient is needing for care. Medication administration times and route, the seriousness of the illness, falls risk, mobility assistance, cognition, upcoming procedures, help with feeding and meals, are just some of the ways collected data could help with safer assignments. A nurse informatician can help to translate information to the electronic health record by gathering data such as this and the relaying it in a way that can be used for knowledge to make an informed decision on how to best care for patients (Public Health informatics Institute, 2017). Data can be revisited and updated to see if any improvements need to be made for patient care.
Laureate Education (2018) Health Informatics and Population Health: Trends in Population Health [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge pp.9 (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Public Health Informatics Institute (2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v+fLUygA8Hpfo
Chizoba Uba RE: Discussion – Week 1
The process of obtaining information or data and its utilization long method of solving problems. As such nursing informatics has been identified as a specialty in nursing and science (Dee McGonigle, 2018, p.7) The use of technology is found in every aspect of human existence. The field of nursing according to McGonigle and Mastrian states that “nursing is an information-intensive profession” (2018). This implies that the nursing field has a lot to do with data collection and gathering of data is still relevant to today’s nursing world and in the healthcare profession as a whole.
In my current practice as a registered in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) data collection and use of technology is very essential in our daily practice. The newborn screening is required by the state of New Jersey that all newborn babies are required to do a bloodspot screening within 48 hours of birth against 59 childhood disorders which could cause lifelong disabilities in children. Early dictation and coordination with primary care providers and other specialties make it easy for the prevention and treatment of these disorders. More than 110,000 newborn screening test is done yearly in NJ. In my primary place of work as a newborn screening champion nurse in the unit. Coordination with both parents, outpatients, inpatients, and specialties are done perfecting through information and data. This enables us to reach out to parents once information are obtained from the state department of health, arrange for follow up treatment and prevention of the outcome of those disorders.
According to Nagle, Sermeus & Junger in their 2017 article says that the health care industries knowledge bank is evolving as such informatics is part of the growth in the health care industry. The fact that data collection and processing takes months to complete, this implies that most information obtained will be out of date. Therefore the relevance of the role of informatics can never be overemphasized. Nursing informatics will continue to evolve and adapt to nursing needs. (Nagle et al 2017). As a graduate practitioner, I am looking forward to being a part of this evolving process in my career pathway as it helps in improving the future of nursing as a profession.
References
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge.
Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Nagle, J., Sermeus, W., & Junger, A. (2017). Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatics
Specialist. Retrieved from
https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_4A0FEA56B8CB.P001/REF
Newborn Screening. Retrieved from nj.gov/health
