Nursing Informatics: Decades of Contribution to Health Informatics, Essay Example

The first proffered emphasis of how nursing informatics was defined was merely a form of technology. However, nursing infomatics has recently broaden its definition to include data, , knowledge, and information, in addition to sagacity as foundational elements. Nursing infomatics continues to be a burgeoning specialty that nurses are expected to master despite the fact that DNP programs often fail to adequately prepare nursing students for the mastery of infomatics. Clearly defining nurse infomatics is still hard to arrive at due to the fact that a manifold of competing definitions still exists and there has been no mechanisms implemented within clinical settings or in the DNP programs to acclimate nurses too new contingencies that they are confronted by in a ever-changing healthcare system. There are various organizing components through which nursing infomatics can be studied in terms of structure: conceptually-oriented understandings, definitions that are geared towards technology, and role-oriented definitions (Newbold, 2012). DNPS must fully understand these three facets of a newer and more evolutionary approach to the accepted definition of nursing infomatics that is logical and coherent in the direction of specialty developments and progress.

Electronic medical records and IT systems have been mandated for physicians and nurse practitioners to used, thereby underscoring how important it is for nurse practitioners to fully embrace and integrate every facet of infomatics in order to enhance the delivery of healthcare services to their patients. The integration of newer technologies into nursing practices present challenges within a constantly evolving healthcare industry, especially since nurse practitioners are not adequately prepared in their education for mastering infomatics in a way that enhances the efficacy of their leadership within healthcare settings. As such, to enhance a nurse’s competence of infomatics as the definition remains nebulous and profoundly oscillates, there must be less emphasis placed on meta-theory and a student’s dexterity in research methodiology content. Invoking evidence-based practices and evaluative measures are far more important in the enhancement of the efficacy of nursing care.;

References

Moen, A. & Knudsen, L.M.M. (2013). Nursing informatics: Decades of contribution to health informatics. Journal of Health Information Resources, 19(2), 86-92.

Nes, S. & Moen, A. (2010). Constructing standards: A study of nurses negotiating with multiple modes of knowledge. Journal of Workplace Learning, 22(6), 376-393.

Newbold, S.K. (2012). A new definition for nursing informatics. Advanced Healthcare Network. Retrieved December 7, 2015 from http://nursing.advanceweb.com/Article/A-New-Definition-for-Nursing-Informatics-2.aspx