Nursing Informatics is a special field of science which deals with the integration of nursing science, computer science, and information science to help in the identification, management, communication, and dissemination of data, information, and knowledge in the field of nursing. Additionally, nursing informatics aid in the critical thinking and decision making of nurses, consumers, patients, interprofessional healthcare team, and even other stakeholders (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, 2015).
The current changes that are happening in the delivery, organization, and financing of health care gave new opportunities for nurses in the field of advanced nursing practice. Advanced practice nurses aim to provide high quality care to different individuals and aggregate health promotion, prevention of diseases, and management of healthcare at a cheaper cost. In line with this, advanced practice nurses will be able to utilize nursing informatics in building a population with better health status and patient outcomes (Delaney, 1996).
The advances in technology over the years allowed faster processing of data because of the presence of computers, efficient assistance in the transformation of data into information because of the development of refined softwares, and faster and effective dissemination of information among different health organizations and health professionals with the help of various communication technologies such as the internet. One of the products of the advancement in technologies which is currently being used in the field of nursing is the electronic health record system. The electronic health record is an electronic software which allows collection of all the interactions of an individual in the health care system. This software also provides assistance to health institutions and organizations along with the healthcare professionals anywhere in the globe (Nursing now, 2001).
Some of the known applications of nursing informatics in the field of clinical practice include the ability to record the assessment data of patients in the electronic health record and the ability to record different workloads and interventions as a result of electronic charting. In the field of nursing, the ability to record the assessment data of patients allow more efficient and effective diagnosis and management of the health status of patients because all of the needed information of the patient are already compiled. Furthermore, the medications and different medical procedures done to the patient have also been recorded to prevent possible misdiagnosis of certain diseases. On the other hand, in the field of administration, nursing informatics provides appropriate knowledge needed for the analysis of different reports that can be produced by different healthcare software application. Aside from this, knowledge in nursing informatics also allows advanced practice nurses to review various health outcome indicators. In terms of education, nursing informatics makes distance learning or teaching possible because of the presence of internet connection. Lastly, in the field of research, nursing informatics allows evaluation of different outcome measures which are considered to be nurse-sensitive. Furthermore, the field of nursing informatics allow the use of different research libraries and knowledge bases through the use of internet (Nursing Now, 2001).
In totality, the field of nursing informatics enable efficiency when it comes to the utilization of available nursing resources and improvement of the precision and extensiveness of the data and information used for the evaluation of patient outcomes. Furthermore, nursing informatics is already considered as an important part of the process of healthcare delivery and as a factor in the differentiation of the selection, implementation, and evaluation of patient’s health. Additionally, it encourages and supports the provision of a safe, excellent, and patient-centered care (Shuler, 2011).
References
Delaney, C. (1996). Use of nursing informatics in advanced nursing practice roles for building healthier populations. Advanced Practice Nursing Quarterly 1(4): 48-53.
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. (2015). What is Nursing Informatics?. HIMSS: Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Retrieved from http://www.himss.org/resourcelibrary/TopicList.aspx?MetaDataID=767 [Accessed on 3 May 2016]
Nursing Now. (2001). What is Nursing Informatics and Why is it so Important?. Nursing Now: Issues and Trends in Canadian Nursing 11. Retrieved from https://www.cna-aiic.ca/~/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/nursinginformaticssept_2001_e.pdf?la=en [Accessed on 3 May 2016]
Shuler, G.K. (2011). Role of Nursing Informatics for Leadership. Advance Healthcare Network for Nurses. Retrieved from http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Columns/Nursing-Informatics/Role-Nursing-Informatics-Leadership.aspx [Accessed on 3 May 2016]
