‘Informatics: Where Is It?’
Reflection on ‘Informatics: Where Is It?’
The article “Informatics: Where Is It” by Linda Thede is a provocative insight over the efforts required in the modern day nursing systems to ensure better integration between information technology and services to ensure maximum efficiency and benefit to the patients. The evolution of the application of Informatics into nursing is well explained as it was conceived as an idea to ensure minimum errors and maximum automation to provide better efficiency in services. The evolution of informatics into nursing has gone a long way from EMR to fully automated patient record systems which can be accessed and updated from various departments of nursing and healthcare management (Thede, 2012).
However, in spite of some drastic changes in level of adaptation with advanced informatics in nursing, there are still few issues like lack of proper system integration, ineffective GUI designs, improper data scanning and storing software, and gaps in the innovative use of informatics tools to reform the current process to better levels of safety and precision (Thede, 2012).The primary issue faced against a thorough implementation of information technology systems is in the use of patients’ record systems for multiple entry modes for a single data. Ideally, there should be a single entry point and multiple access points for data storage in case of patient records, but human error in multiple data entries result in redundancy and wastage of time in repetitive efforts to enter same data again and again. Similarly, the screens of the IT systems should be adaptive and easy to access the information for the nursing staff. The data scanning and storage systems should also be user-friendly to ensure precision in the storage of patient records. Finally, one should not forget that the systems are meant to be driven for facilitating ease of operations to the nursing staff and not vice-versa.
References
Thede, L., (2012). "Informatics: Where Is It?" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 17 No. 1. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-17-2012/No1-Jan-2012/Informatics-Where-Is-It
