NR 512 Week 1 Discussion: Integration of Nursing Informatics Skills and Competencies (+Responses)

Reflect on your own practice. Discuss how informatics is used in your practice. What is your primary area where you would use informatics? I have been a nurse for a little over 8 years now. Up until the last year or so, I never knew what nursing informatics was about. Slowly but surely I am starting to grasp the concept. Watts states, “the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the TIGER Initiative have both stated that all nurses should have a basic education in nursing informatics to practice safely,” (2016). During nursing school I cannot recall learning about nursing informatics. The first time this was brought to my attention was within the last two to three years while the hospital I work for was trying to gain Magnet status. More so now, that I am in graduate classes, I have learned more about nursing informatics and what it entails. Nursing informatics affects all different types of aspects in the nursing world. Learning environments, interprofessional collaborations, patient care settings, patient satisfaction, strategic planning and patient outcomes are all affected by nursing informatics (McGonigle, Hunter, Sipes & Hebda, 2014). Currently in my department, emergency department, we only use electronic medical records, at least for the majority of the time. The physicians are the only ones who still write on physical charts, but they input all orders and access the medical records through the computer system. We just recently launched our Expected Patient Arrival (EPA) documents, these have only been done on physical pieces of paper. The physician inputs information into a document in the computer regarding a patient that an outlying facility or primary care is sending to the ER, along with the chief complaint, medical history and what they would like done for the patient. Once the information is uploaded into the computer, the triage nurse, or the nurse receiving the patient looks up the document through the EPA portal and links the document to the triage note. This allows the physicians to view the triage note and EPA document at the same time. Once viewed by a physician, there is a document icon with a check mark next to the chief complaint on the ED status board. It really has been amazing to see this process be set up and to be inputted. The informatics team has been working diligently along with the emergency room staff to perfect this document and process. By having the process inputted into our practice, we are able to provide effective, patient centered care. This new process also works well with interprofessional collaborations. Reference: McGonigle, D., Hunter, K., Sipes, C., & Hebda, T. (2014). Why Nurses Need to Understand Nursing Informatics. AORN Journal, 100(3), 324-327. doi:10.1016/.2014.06.012 Watts, C. S. (2016). Preparing Nursing Graduates for the Future: Adding Informatics Education To Entry Level Programs. Nursing Informatics Today, 31(1), 10-16. Retrieved from ae07-472c-a914-7a6ebb6625de%40sessionmgr103&vid=4&hid=103