BLOG: HOW HAS NURSING INFORMATICS AND TECHNOLOGY IMPACTED YOUR PRACTICE.
RESPONSE
BLOG: HOW HAS NURSING INFORMATICS AND TECHNOLOGY IMPACTED YOUR PRACTICE?
RESPOND
Read a selection of your colleagues’ blog posts and respond to two of your colleagues by expanding upon their responses or sharing additional or alternative perspectives.
Quennie XSerenity Main Post
I got my Information Technology (IT) degree before becoming a nurse. I wanted to do some coding and information management. It really helps me differentiate between a variety of software programs for charting. And boy, do we do a lot of charting as nurses. As an essential part of nursing practice, documentation accounts for more than one-third of nurses’ time (35.3%) (Mayer et al., 2022).
Meditech is my least favorite, but I would rather have Meditech than do paper charting, and Epic is one of my favorites. We use Allscripts right now where I work. Barcode medication administration or barcode scanning plays a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of care and safety in my nursing practice (Grailey et al., 2023). It allows me to scan the patient’s wristband before I scan the medications. It’s still important to ask them their name and date of birth to be certain that we have the right person for the medication.
References:
Grailey, K., Hussain, R., Wylleman, E., Ezzat, A., Huf, S., & Franklin, B. D. (2023). Understanding the facilitators and barriers to barcode medication administration by nursing staff using behavioural science frameworks. A mixed methods study.
BMC Nursing,
22(1), 1–12.
Mayer, L., Xu, D., Edwards, N., & Bokhart, G. (2022). A Comparison of Voice Recognition Program and Traditional Keyboard Charting for Nurse Documentation.
CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing,
40(2), 90–94.
·
Nursing informatics uses information technology and nursing science to manage data and information and communicate in nursing practice (Garcia-Dia, 2021). Informatics is pivotal in improving patient care, facilitating communication, supporting decision-making, and enhancing clinical workflows (Garcia-Dia, 2021). Informatics competencies have revolutionized various aspects of care, including how nurses interact with patients and collaborate with other healthcare professionals (Strudwick et al., 2019). Nursing informatics enable nurses to enhance the quality of care delivered to patients and safety. This discussion will explore the role of informatics competencies in enhancing the quality of care and safety in my nursing practice.
Explore the pivotal role of informatics competencies in enhancing the quality of care and safety in My nursing practice.
Informatics competencies such as electronic health records (EHRs) significantly enhance my nursing practice by enhancing documentation (Li et al., 2022). It helps healthcare professionals to document patient information, thus minimizing errors accurately. The electronic health record also ensures that a detailed record of the healthcare information is readily available, which assists in making informed healthcare decisions (Li et al., 2022). The other competency is clinical decision support, which provides healthcare professionals with analysis tools, guidelines, and drug databases to help guide their care decisions (Sutton et al., 2020). This leads to improved safety, timely interventions, and better patient outcomes.
The other informatics competence is telehealth, which facilitates remote monitoring of symptoms and vital signs. Remote monitoring of patients ensures that healthcare providers identify warning signs early enough and administer interventions to prevent worsening symptoms (Gajarawala & Pelkowski, 2021). Telehealth technology has dramatically improved healthcare access and efficiency as providers can provide care to patients remotely (Gajarawala & Pelkowski, 2021). Moreover, informatics systems are equipped with tools that facilitate patient education. Nurses use this feature to empower patients to participate in the care and improve adherence to treatment plans. Also, patients are educated about their health conditions, the available interventions, and the healthy behaviors they should engage in to improve the quality of outcomes (Garcia-Dia, 2021). Furthermore, informatics competencies help improve collaboration between healthcare professionals through teleconferencing.
Informatics competencies such as barcode medication administration (BCMA) help enhance patient safety and reduce the risk of adverse events (Barakat & Franklin, 2020). Informatics competencies such as electronic medication administration records (eMAR) reduce the risk of medical errors (Iqbal et al., 2021). It ensures that healthcare professionals administer the correct medications and dosage at the right time (Iqbal et al., 2021). Analysis tools are informatics competencies that allow healthcare professionals to identify trends and patterns in clinical data (Strudwick et al., 2019). The data analysis results help identify areas of improvement and interventions that can enhance the quality of care and safety.
In conclusion, various informatics competencies enhance my nursing practice’s quality of care and safety. For instance, electronic health records enhance documentation and reduce errors. Similarly, clinical decision support helps to guide the decisions made by healthcare professionals, thus improving the quality of care and safety. Moreover, telehealth facilitates remote monitoring of symptoms and vital signs and improves access to healthcare. Competencies such as eMAR and BCMA help to enhance care quality and safety by reducing the risk of medical errors.
References
Barakat, S., & Franklin, B. D. (2020). An Evaluation of the Impact of Barcode Patient and Medication Scanning on Nursing Workflow at a UK Teaching Hospital.
Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland),
8(3), 148.
to an external site.
Garcia-Dia M. J. (2021). Nursing informatics: An evolving specialty.
Nursing management,
52(5), 56.
to an external site.
Gajarawala, S. N., & Pelkowski, J. N. (2021). Telehealth Benefits and Barriers.
The journal for nurse practitioners : JNP,
17(2), 218–221.
to an external site.
Iqbal, A. R., Parau, C. A., Kazi, S., Adams, K. T., La, L., Hettinger, A. Z., & Ratwani, R. M. (2021). Identifying Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) Usability Issues from Patient Safety Event Reports.
Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety,
47(12), 793–801.
to an external site.
Li, E., Clarke, J., Ashrafian, H., Darzi, A., & Neves, A. L. (2022). The Impact of Electronic Health Record Interoperability on Safety and Quality of Care in High-Income Countries: Systematic Review.
Journal of medical Internet research,
24(9), e38144.
to an external site.
Strudwick, G., Nagle, L., Kassam, I., Pahwa, M., & Sequeira, L. (2019). Informatics Competencies for Nurse Leaders: A Scoping Review.
The Journal of nursing administration,
49(6), 323–330.
to an external site.
Sutton, R. T., Pincock, D., Baumgart, D. C., Sadowski, D. C., Fedorak, R. N., & Kroeker, K. I. (2020). An overview of clinical decision support systems: benefits, risks, and strategies for success.
NPJ digital medicine,
3, 17.
to an external site.
