Nursing Informatics and Nursing Leadership
The new technology has changed the delivery of health care. As a result, clinicians and nurses are integrating wireless solutions, high-speed data networks, automated exchanges and handheld devices into the delivery of services. This revolution has also affected the nursing profession. It is imperative that nurses are able to adapt to this new working environment. This calls for a change in the expectations of a nurse regarding the delivery and communication of care. Additionally, there is a requirement for the understanding of how the revolution has changed practice through the incorporation of new solutions. The integration of nursing informatics is especially important for nurses as the members of the nursing profession are at the center of the changes envisioned in the integration of informatics are have the greatest direct contact with the patients among all the caregivers.
The implication of this is that even health informatics is important for all the members of the health care delivery team, the members of the nursing professions are impacted more. If health organizations are to achieve their priorities and goals regarding health informatics, the nursing fraternity is an important player. This also underscores the importance of nursing leadership in nursing informatics. This is a topic I find very interesting, especially as the health care system is continually revolutionized by new technology. I know that nursing leadership is very vital in the implementation of new practices in nursing.
Nursing leadership is also in the incorporation of new technology in the nursing process. Even if some of these new practices are a matter of policy, their successful integration into the nursing process is dependent on the input of the nursing leadership. It is for this reason that I am determined to find out the role of nursing leadership in the integration of informatics into nursing practice.
Databases used
In finding information that was relevant to the question I had in mind, I looked into several databases. However, I found PubMed to be very meticulous in its organization of articles related to different subjects. In using this database, one can customize the parameters of search in order to get articles that are very relevant to the question in mind. The database also allows one to filter the articles in order to get articles published within a certain duration of time. I used four keywords, although they were contained in two phrases. These were nursing informatics and nursing leadership.
I restrained from using more key works in order to generate a broad search, and then manually read through the articles in order to choose articles with different perspectives on the role of nursing leadership in the integration of informatics into nursing practice. Using the phrases made of the four keywords, I found several articles in this database. Some of them were broadly written and could not serve the purpose for which the search was intended. However, there were articles where the authors explored very intriguing perspectives about the role that nursing leadership plays in the integration of nursing informatics into nursing practice.
The information from the articles is quite diverse and features different perspectives. Using the continuum of data, this information can be organized in order to form knowledge that can be used as a basis upon which the understanding of the role of nursing leadership in the integration of nursing informatics in nursing practice can be based. The first step involves the naming and categorization of data. The information in the article will be categorized into like groups. This is important so that common themes from the different sources can be identified and also grouped.
Secondly, the information is further organized by the commonality of themes and then interpreted. In this instance, the various perspectives of the different authors of the articles found in the PubMed database and interpreted as they relate to the question in mind. The interpretation answers the question as to the role that nursing leadership plays in integrating nursing informatics into nursing practice. The interpretation is also aided by relating the perspectives of the authors to those in the references cited.
The third step entails integrating and understanding the knowledge as it relates to the nursing profession and the background in which the nursing informatics has been introduced. This understanding is vital because it helps integrate the information into the issue of nursing informatics in nursing practice. Finally, the wisdom gained from ventilating on the knowledge gained is then compassionately applied in order to augment the integration of nursing informatics in nursing practice through targeted nursing leadership.
Nursing informatics can be used effectively to gain wisdom. Having knowledge is simply insufficient, especially in the nursing profession where the transformation of the knowledge into actions affects patient outcomes. Informatics can be used to gain wisdom by affecting how a nurse thinks and acts on the knowledge using their experience, common sense, understanding, and insight. Through informatics, nurses have access to evidence based practice, information that is important in the decision making process for nurses in practice.
References
Kirby, S. (2015). Informatics leadership: the role of the CNIO, Nursing. 45 (4): 21-22
Oakes, M., Frisch, N., Potter, P. and Borycki, E. (2015). Readiness of nurse executives and leaders to advocate for health information systems supporting nursing. Studies in health technology and information, 208: 296-301.
Willmer, M. (2007). How nursing leadership and management interventions could facilitate the effective use of ICT by student nurses. Journal of Nursing Management, 15 (2): 207- 2013.
