NR-512 Week 4 Discussion, Informatics Skills (Two Versions)

Week 4: Informatics Skills How do the informatics skills you are now developing/expanding upon and validating help you meet current informatics skills levels? How did the TANIC self-assessment change your impression of your current informatics skill levels? Initial post:3/27 I believe the informatics skills we are developing/expanding upon and validating during this course have been eye-opening thus far. It is fascinating how diverse the informatic world is in nursing. Some nurses still verbalize they miss paper charting, while newer nurses do not know anything else but electronic health records (EHR). When I hear this, I immediately bring up the efficiency and effectiveness of computer charting at this current time and all its benefits. I believe the benefits outweigh the excessive training required to learn a new skill or technology. It is unfortunate that because computer charting has become so efficient that I feel more “charting” is added and required of the nurse and it essentially takes him/her away from the bedside. The more we chart, the more is audited, and the more is audited, the more is required to chart. It is a vicious cycle. The words are best quoted from our text, “unintended workflow consequences from the use of technology” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). It takes time to learn a new system or technology incorporated to make a nurse’s job more efficient, and by doing so it causes resistance to the new technology. Nurses are already overworked during their 12-hour shift. When a hospital initiates new technology and informatics to help the bedside nurse, they are resistant because the new training requires more time at work. As fast as the technology is advancing, the healthcare system should want to keep up in order to assist the nurse’s workflow and make it more efficient and effective. It is surprising that the first internet-based nursing informatics course was not offered until 1997 (Darvish et al., 2014). The TANIC self-assessment made me feel like my informatics “skill level” was much lower than originally thought. Some of the verbiage and wording used in the TANIC made me even more confused when it comes to informatics. However, I do believe that informatics plays a vital role in healthcare today because it is able track so much more than paper charting. Technology allows us to see trends, patterns, or statistics to better help us better serve our population. It also can help assist with best practice by using research of data easily accessible with technology and informatics. Reference: Darvish, A., Bahramnezhad, F., Keyhanian, S., & Navidhamidi, M. (2014). The role of nursing informatics on promoting quality of health care and the need for appropriate education. Global journal of health science, 6(6), 11–18. doi:10.5539/gjhs.v6n6p11 McGonigle, D. & Mastrian, K. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Instructor post:3/29 Class, Looking back at the TIGER/TANIC skills, how did you acquire most of your NI skills? Did your basic nursing program prepare you for computer use in the clinical environment or did you pick up your skills from other areas of life? This may sound crazy, but I believe that my fast typing evolved, not only from typing in junior high and high school, but also with AOL instant messenger. I happen to have had a roommate in college who owned a computer she built with her uncle. This was amazing because she let me use it on occasion which meant I did not have to go use the computer lab. When I would be typing a paper for class, she would let me use AOL instant messenger and the faster you could reply, the more efficient and fluid your conversation. I would say my NI skills in nursing would be acquired from other areas of life. In nursing school, we did not use computers for class or charting. It was a hands-on approach which I appreciated. Prior to nursing school, I had the privilege to work for a private physician’s office who utilized the use of electronic medical records (EMR). This experience greatly prepared me for bedside nursing later on down the road of my career. Early on I worked at a nursing home after graduation that only used paper charting (which we used in nursing school). This meant I went backwards in technology in my jobs from EMR to paper charting. Peer post:3/30 Kate, Thank you for sharing your post and your informatics background. I have similar skills that you listed and not only began my nursing career with paper charting but had to transition from computer charting in nursing school… go figure! It was not until I was an active chair on a committee for our level 1 certification of the hospital. One week I noticed we discussed how the electronic medical record (EMR) that the hospital used to chart was very advanced; however, the EMR the ER within the same hospital used, was different. Not only was it different, but of course the 2 systems did not “talk” to each other and information was delayed getting to inpatient units if the patient was admitted or delayed transferring to physicians for adequate treatment. During this same meeting, we discussed how the technology existed to upload an EKG from the field by a paramedic if a patient was experiencing an MI straight to the ER. Unfortunately, this technology was another product available for purchasing that the hospital did not want to pay for!! Here we are sitting on a committee to better enhance the lives of our cardiac alert patients and make for faster door-to-balloon times and now we are told by the director: “nope, the hospital would not approve the purchase of technology available to help save lives.” I was shocked and amazed. Of course, someone suggested just sending it on their cellphone, but then you run into HIPAA violations, etc. After this committee and informatics discussions, I wonder if there is even more technology available to help make bedside nursing more streamline, but hospitals have chosen not to pay for it?