Health Information Technology Systems and Nursing Informatics, Essay Example

Nursing informatics has had a profound impact on my personal nursing practice. The integration of vital decisions with concrete and evidence-based knowledge allows both nurses and health care institutions as a whole to become more effective. I have been a nurse for six years, in a variety of specialties including medical-surgical, home health, emergency room, and intensive care unit. Since my primary goal as a health care practitioner is to help people heal and gain a large extent of knowledge regarding the field, I believe that it is necessary to integrate nursing informatics into practice to uphold nursing standards.

Information technology is an essential component of nursing informatics that has been a particularly useful application in my professional experience. The regular use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems has allowed me to check important patient data, which in one particular case, could have possibly prevented cardiac arrhythmia. Last year, a patient visited the ER complaining that she was dizzy. After her vitals were checked, it was discovered that she had hypertension and she reported that she had been previously prescribed hydrochlorothiazide and took her last dose several days prior. She had visited the hospital earlier in the week for a similar purpose, but was unsure what medication she had been prescribed. By checking the EHR, I was able to determine that she was given heart rhythm medication. Since hydrochlorothiazide interacts with heart rhythm medication, I was able to inform her that she should stop taking the new medication immediately and helped decide upon a safer combination of pharmaceuticals.

As demonstrated in the aforementioned scenario, established nursing informatics competencies have a positive influence on patient quality of care, safety improvements, and excellence in nursing practice. According to the American Medical Informatics Association, nursing informatics is a useful tool in establishing the “definition of healthcare policy to advance the public’s health”, “vision and management for the development, design, and implementation of communication and information technology”, and “information and communication technologies to address inter-professional work flow needs across all care venues”, among other factors (AMIA, 2014). The implementation of these defined guidelines is a necessary step in ensuring that excellence in the nursing practice will improve across the board. Nursing informatics provides a useful way for nurses in diverse geographic regions to obtain information regarding these standards in addition to their implementation.

Both the Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER) and American Nursing Association (ANA) competency plans are useful in defining the tools that nurses need to develop their skills and efficacy and to ensure that nursing informatics tools are functional. TIGER is a worthwhile program because it ensures that nurses act in accordance to expectations from the beginning of their careers (Shultz, 2009). This is an ideal strength, as it reinforces behaviors early on and provides health care institutions with measurable performance objectives. The ANA competencies are useful as well because the requirements vary depending upon nursing experience and responsibilities. When considering both TIGER and ANA, it appears more complex to carry out the ANA requirements. I believe that enhancing my understanding of ANA will become a strength for me in the future, as I will need to continue to determine my responsibilities depending upon my particular position and I can adapt to this need.

One strategy that I will use to enhance my informatics skills and competencies will be ensuring that I am in constant communication with the other members of the nursing staff. I believe that collaboration is necessary in order to ensure that the TIGER and ANA nursing informatics guidelines are met. Furthermore, it is essential to regularly review peer-reviewed nursing articles for effective contribution to the team.

References

AMIA. (2014). Working Group Nursing Informatics. Retrieved from http://www.amia.org/programs/working-groups/nursing-informatics

Shultz C. (2009). Preparing to Work in an Informatics-Based World. Retrieved from http://www.nsna.org/Portals/0/Skins/NSNA/pdf/Imprint_AprMay09_Feat_Shultz.pdf