Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists NURS 6051
Discussion: Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists
Nature offers many examples of specialization and collaboration. Ant colonies and bee hives are but two examples of nature’s sophisticated organizations. Each thrives because their members specialize by tasks, divide labor, and collaborate to ensure food, safety, and general well-being of the colony or hive.
Of course, humans don’t fare too badly in this regard either. And healthcare is a great example. As specialists in the collection, access, and application of data, nurse informaticists collaborate with specialists on a regular basis to ensure that appropriate data is available to make decisions and take actions to ensure the general well-being of patients.
In this Discussion, you will reflect on your own observations of and/or experiences with informaticist collaboration. You will also propose strategies for how these collaborative experiences might be improved.
To Prepare for Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists NURS 6051 Discussion:
- Review the Resources and reflect on the evolution of nursing informatics from a science to a nursing specialty.
- Consider your experiences with nurse Informaticists or technology specialists within your healthcare organization.
By Day 3 of Week 3
Post a description of experiences or observations about how nurse informaticists and/or data or technology specialists interact with other professionals within your healthcare organization. Suggest at least one strategy on how these interactions might be improved. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain the impact you believe the continued evolution of nursing informatics as a specialty and/or the continued emergence of new technologies might have on professional interactions.
By Day 6 of Week 3
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, offering one or more additional interaction strategies in support of the examples/observations shared or by offering further insight to the thoughts shared about the future of these interactions.
*Note: Throughout this program, your fellow students are referred to as colleagues.
Discussion: Interaction between Nurse Informaticists and Other Specialists Example Approach
The roles of nurse informaticists and specialists are virtually applicable in all health practice settings. Their responsibilities encompass collaboration with other professionals, thus requiring appropriate collaborative strategies. Nurse informaticists support information acquisition and clinical information system evaluation and implementation. In so doing, they promote and assist the institution in knowledge management (Nagle et al., 2020).
In my practice setting, patients that do not require emergency care are received and triaged before they are directed to the appropriate specialists. The patients’ data are collected or retrieved at the triaging and reception. At this point, the entry and classification of this information to the appropriate departments require the services of nurse informaticists.
The process of admitting a patient to our institution starts with the registration. The patient’s data is entered in hard copy patient file records and into the electronic health records for easy retrieval. The physical file records are handled only by the clinicians and patients have limited access. The process of patient interview and history taking involves recording the information in the file records and transferring the summarized and organized data into the electronic records.
The results from the lab are produced in hard copy printed papers and filed while a copy is sent to the requesting physician for further interpretation and care. The nurse is responsible for collecting and transferring patient data and transmitting results between different outpatient departments. In the process, the nurse interacts with the physician and technicians on a daily basis and is responsible for the flow of the patient’s information and data throughout until discharge.
Improving the Interactions
The interaction between the nurse informaticists and the physicians is collaborative and interdependent. The process of flow and exchange of information and data between the nurses and the consultants is slower and would be improved through the use of information technology. Using information technology with paper-based methods as backup would speed up these interactions, ensuring faster, specific, patient-centered care (Nelson & Carter-Templeton, 2016).
Information technology, through electronic health records (EHR), would be used to transfer, share and inform other specialists on patient’s data results and details about their care so far. Relaying the patient’s information from the reception and registration to the consultants’ rooms would be done through electronic means to eliminate potential delays. The time the nurses take when consolidating the patient’s data from the lab to consultation rooms and wards can be reduced through electronic data transfer using computer technology. The use of technology also enhances faster and efficient data analysis that would promote effective knowledge management.
Impacts of Evolution of Nursing Informatics
Nursing informatics has evolved over the past decades from informal informatics that involved no profession to the professional learning of the nursing informatics and information technology. The evolution of nursing informatics into a specialty, together with technological advancements, has increased the scope of the application of nursing informatics.
Presently, aspiring nurse informaticists must acquire relevant knowledge of information technology. This knowledge keeps advancing with time and the technologies become more sophisticated and nurse informaticists have to update their skills and capabilities to interpret organizational information flow (Glassman, 2017) adequately.
The advancements would reduce the interaction duration between professionals and improve the quality of interaction due to the unification of interaction by the use of similar and specific technologies (Brixley, 2016). Modest outcomes include reduced documentation, faster patient registration, and reduced admission time. Specific tasks, including nursing data collection and diagnosis, will be semi-automated if not fully automated.
References
Brixey J. J. (2016). Health Informatics Competencies, Workforce and the DNP: Why Connect These ‘Dots’?. Studies In Health Technology And Informatics, 225, 750–752.
Glassman, K. (2017). Using Data in Nursing Practice. American Nurses Today, 12(11), 45–47. Retrieved 13 December 2020, from https://www.myamericannurse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ant11-Data-1030.pdf.
Nagle, L., Sermeus, W., & Junger, A. (2020). Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatics Specialist. Forecasting Informatics Competencies For Nurses In The Future Of Connected Health, pp. 212–222. https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-738-2-212
Nelson, R., & Carter-Templeton, H. D. (2016). The Nursing Informatician’s Role in Mediating Technology Related Health Literacies. Studies In Health Technology And Informatics, 225, 237–241.
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 3 Discussion Rubric
Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 3
To participate in this Discussion:
Week 3 Discussion
