NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 4 Informatics and Nursing Sensitive Quality Indicators

NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 4 Informatics and Nursing Sensitive Quality Indicators Sample Paper 

Nursing informatics is a specialty that integrates nursing and analytical and information sciences to communicate and manage data in nursing practice. It involves the application of information technology in nursing education, research, and nursing services (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2021). Therefore, nurse informaticists are nurse practitioners who incorporate information technology in nursing services to improve the quality of healthcare services. 

Role of Nurse Informaticists

With the advancing technology in the world, there is a need for healthcare providers who are experts in information technology, such as nurse informaticists. According to American Informatics Association, the roles of nurse informaticists include creating protocols for data retrieval and data presentation to promote patient-centered care.

Secondly, nurse informaticists should do further studies on informatics to add new information and knowledge. Lastly, informaticists should actively promote health facility infrastructure by developing standards for communication and even advocating for evidence-based practice in the service provision (Wu et al., 2019).

Additionally, nurse informaticists should also be responsible for data validation using variety, volume, and velocity to promote a data-dependent decision-making process in the nursing practice (Garcia, 2021).

The informaticists should also be in charge of implementing the new technologies in the health facility by motivating and inspiring other healthcare providers to adopt the use of technology in clinical practice. From the above-described roles, it is apparent that the healthcare industry should promote nursing informatics expertise. This can be done by encouraging nurses to advance their studies in nursing informatics.

Nurse Informaticists and Other Health Organizations

There are several health organizations and institutions with nurse informaticists. Nurse informatics specialists can identify measures promoting transformation since they can identify existing gaps in healthcare. An example of a healthcare organization with nurse informaticists is the John Peter Smith Hospital, located in Texas.

The facility assists in recognizing red flags for domestic violence and human trafficking by applying Mobile Health and Electronic Medical records to monitor patients’ progress (Azoui et al., 2021). This method has greatly improved the nurses’ workflow and has also provided nurse practitioners with guidelines and measures for problem-solving.

Another organization of note is the Texas Hospital. The hospital has nurse informaticists who leverage technology to validate and evaluate the clinicians’ work through Electronic Medical Records. For this reason, the hospital has experienced a reduced workload from handwritten documentation to electronic health records.

The nurses in the hospital have also positively influenced the predictive model through the integration of technology and analytical strategies in clinical practice. This technique has significantly improved identifying patients who require palliation and those at high risk of mortality, hence reducing mortality rates.

Interaction Between Nurse Informaticists and other Professional Team Members

The nurse informaticists interact with the other nursing staff and the interdisciplinary team in several ways. For example, the nurse informaticists in Texas Hospital and John Peter Smith Hospital interact with staff from different disciplines by planning joint meeting sessions to equip them with technology concepts to improve healthcare outcomes.

The interdisciplinary team was enlightened on the use and advantages of adopting Electronic Medical records and Mobile Health (mHealth) (Azoui et al., 2021). Furthermore, the patients were also trained on using the tools to ease sharing and storage of data.

Impact of Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology

The engagement of nurses in the implementation of technology tools such as the electronic medical record and mobile health has contributed a lot to improving healthcare service provision and patient outcomes. According to (Azoui et al., 2021), using mHealth has assisted in patient motivation, engagement, and behavior change. For example, healthcare workers use mHealth to monitor patient health progress through Electronic Medical Records. 

In addition, the tools also enable the healthcare workers to be among themselves and with the patients. Throughout their practice, the nurse informaticists must ensure that the patients’ data recorded is per HIPAA privacy policies because the mHealth and Electronic Medical Record store confidential information about the patients. Engagement of nurses in healthcare technology has also decreased the costs of workflow.

Challenges and Opportunities

The roles of the nurse informaticists and their interaction with the interdisciplinary team have both opportunities and challenges. With nurse informaticists, health information has been easily accessible because the nurses participate in promoting healthcare technology adoption (Garcia, 2021)). For this reason, the workflow will be enhanced, making it easy to minimize errors while dealing with complex duties. With information technology, nurses and other medical practitioners can carry out services such as drug prescription, the booking of patients, and patient monitoring by using the mHealth and Electronic Medical Record tools.

On the other hand, the challenges facing nursing informatics include difficulty in adopting technology changes but the older nurses. The older nurses during their training were not exposed to technology, and they, therefore, do not know the importance of using technology in health service provision (Luo, 2019). The other challenge is the violation of the HIPAA privacy policies by the interdisciplinary team during the early phase of technology adoption. Additionally, the multidisciplinary team can also be influenced when an external party leaks information due to illegitimate applications.

Recommendations

This proposal has highlighted the importance of having nurse informaticists, especially for the organization that plans to adopt the healthcare technology tool to provide healthcare service. Both Texas and John Peter Smith Hospital have adopted two technology tools, the mHealth and Electronic Medical Records. Embracing technology in healthcare will enable smooth interaction between healthcare providers and patients by virtually linking up the facility services.

Based on this proposal, the following are the recommendations I would propose: First, I would advise the nurse managers and leaders to encourage the adoption and implementation of new technologies. Secondly, I would propose that the nurse administrators organize regular conferences and training to educate and train the nurses on the implementation of the latest technologies and their advantages.

I would advise the new nurses to be introduced to user-friendly technology tools to support their morale in technology adoption. Lastly, I would recommend that the nurse leader organize mentorship programs to help change the nurses’ perception of the new technologies.

NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 4 Informatics and Nursing Sensitive Quality Indicators References

Azoui, A., Abdelouhab, K. A., & Idoughi, D. (2021, November). Design and Implementation of Cloud-Based M-Health Application for an Electronic Medical Record System. In International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Renewable Energetic Systems (pp. 458-467). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92038-8_46

Garcia-Dia, M. J. (2021). Nursing informatics: An evolving specialty. Nursing Management, 52(5), 56. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000743444.08164.b4

Luo, S. (2019). Special focus issue on nursing informatics: Challenges of utilizing electronic health records. International Journal Of Nursing Sciences, 6(1), 125. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ijnss.2018.11.001

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2021). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. 128422046X, 9781284220469.

Wu, D. T., Chen, A. T., Manning, J. D., Levy-Fix, G., Backonja, U., Borland, D., Caban, J. J., Dowding, D. W., Hochheiser, H., Kagan, V., Kandaswamy, S., Kumar, M., Nunez, A., Pan, E. & Gotz, D. (2019). Evaluating visual analytics for health informatics applications: a systematic review from the American Medical Informatics Association Visual Analytics Working Group Task Force on Evaluation. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 26(4), 314–323. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocy190

NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 4 Informatics and Nursing Sensitive Quality Indicators Instructions

Prepare an 8-10 minute audio training tutorial (video is optional) for new nurses on the importance of nursing-sensitive quality indicators.

Introduction

As you begin to prepare this assessment you are encouraged to complete the Conabedian Quality Assessment Framework activity. Quality health care delivery requires systematic action. Completion of this will help you succeed with the assessment as you consider how the triad of structure (such as the hospital, clinic, provider qualifications/organizational characteristics) and process (such as the delivery/coordination/education/protocols/practice style or standard of care) may be modified to achieve quality outcomes.

The American Nursing Association (ANA) established the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI®) in 1998 to track and report on quality indicators heavily influenced by nursing action.

NDNQI® was established as a standardized approach to evaluating nursing performance in relation to patient outcomes. It provides a database and quality measurement program to track clinical performance and to compare nursing quality measures against other hospital data at the national, regional, and state levels. Nursing-sensitive quality indicators help establish evidence-based practice guidelines in the inpatient and outpatient settings to enhance quality care outcomes and initiate quality improvement educational programs, outreach, and protocol development.

The quality indicators the NDNQI® monitors are organized into three categories: structure, process, and outcome. Theorist Avedis Donabedian first identified these categories. Donabedian’s theory of quality health care focused on the links between quality outcomes and the structures and processes of care (Grove et al., 2018).

Nurses must be knowledgeable about the indicators their workplaces monitor. Some nurses deliver direct patient care that leads to a monitored outcome. Other nurses may be involved in data collection and analysis. In addition, monitoring organizations, including managed care entities, exist to gather data from individual organizations to analyze overall industry quality. All of these roles are important to advance quality and safety outcomes.

The focus of Assessment 4 is on how informatics support monitoring of nursing-sensitive quality indicator data. You will develop an 8–10 minute audio (or video) training module to orient new nurses in a workplace to a single nursing-sensitive quality indicator critical to the organization. Your recording will address how data are collected and disseminated across the organization along with the nurses’ role in supporting accurate reporting and high quality results.

Reference

Grove, S. K., Gray, J. R., Jay, G. W., Jay, H. M., & Burns, N. (2018). Understanding nursing research: Building an evidence-based practice (7th ed.). Elsevier.

Preparation

This assessment requires you to prepare an 8–10 minute audio training tutorial (with optional video) for new nurses on the importance of nursing-sensitive quality indicators. To successfully prepare for your assessment, you will need to complete the following preparatory activities:

• Select a single nursing-sensitive quality indicator that you see as important to a selected type of health care system. Choose from the following list:
  • Staffing measures.

• Nursing hours per patient day.
• RN education/certification.
• Skill mix.
• Nurse turnover.
• Nursing care hours in emergency departments, perioperative units, and perinatal units.
• Skill mix in emergency departments, perioperative units, and perinatal units.

• • Quality measures.

• Patient falls.
• Patient falls with injury.
• Pressure ulcer prevalence.
• Health care-associated infections.
  • Catheter-associated urinary tract infection.
  • Central line catheter associated blood stream infection.
  • Ventilator-associated pneumonia.
  • Ventilator- associated events.
• Psychiatric physical/sexual assault rate.
• Restraint prevalence.
• Pediatric peripheral intravenous infiltration rate.
• Pediatric pain assessment, intervention, reassessment (air) cycle.
• Falls in ambulatory settings.
• Pressure ulcer incidence rates from electronic health records.
• Hospital readmission rates.
• RN satisfaction survey options.
  • Job satisfaction scales.
  • Job satisfaction scales – short form.
  • Practice environment scale.

• Conduct independent research on the most current information about the selected nursing-sensitive quality indicator.
• Interview a professional colleague or contact who is familiar with quality monitoring and how technology can help to collect and report quality indicator data. You do not need to submit the transcript of your conversation, but do integrate what you learned from the interview into the audio tutorial. Consider these questions for your interview:
  • What is your experience with collecting data and entering it into a database?
  • What challenges have you experienced?
  • How does your organization share with the nursing staff and other members of the health care system the quality improvement monitoring results?
  • What role do bedside nurses and other frontline staff have in entering the data? For example, do staff members enter the information into an electronic medical record for extraction? Or do they enter it into another system? How effective is this process?
• Watch the Informatics and Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicators Video Exemplar.

Recording Your Presentation

To prepare to record the audio for your presentation, complete the following:

• Set up and test your microphone or headset using the installation instructions provided by the manufacturer. You only need to use the headset if your audio is not clear and high quality when captured by the microphone.
• Practice using the equipment to ensure the audio quality is sufficient.
• Review the for Kaltura to record your presentation.
• View Creating a Presentation: A Guide to Writing and Speaking. This video addresses the primary areas involved in creating effective audiovisual presentations. You can return to this resource throughout the process of creating your presentation to view the tutorial appropriate for you at each stage.

Notes:

• You may use other tools to record your tutorial. You will, however, need to consult Using Kaltura for instructions on how to upload your audio-recorded tutorial into the courseroom, or you must provide a working link your instructor can easily access.
• You may also choose to create a video of your tutorial, but this is not required.
• If you require the use of assistive technology or alternative communication methods to participate in this activity, please contact DisabilityServices@Capella.edu to request accommodations.

NURS-FPX4040 Assessment 4 Informatics and Nursing Sensitive Quality Indicators Instructions

For this assessment, imagine you are a member of a Quality Improvement Council at any type of health care system, whether acute, ambulatory, home health, managed care, et cetera. Your Council has identified that newly hired nurses would benefit from comprehensive training on the importance of nursing-sensitive quality indicators.

The Council would like the training to address how this information is collected and disseminated across the organization. It would also like the training to describe the role nurses have in accurate reporting and high-quality results.

The Council indicates a recording is preferable to a written fact sheet due to the popularity of audio blogs. In this way, new hires can listen to the tutorial on their own time using their phone or other device.

As a result of this need, you offer to create an audio tutorial orienting new hires to these topics. You know that you will need a script to guide your audio recording. You also plan to incorporate into your script the insights you learned from conducting an interview with an authority on quality monitoring and the use of technology to collect and report quality indicator data.

You determine that you will cover the following topics in your audio tutorial script:

Introduction: Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicator

• What is the National Database of Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicators?
• What are nursing-sensitive quality indicators?
• Which particular quality indicator did you select to address in your tutorial?
• Why is this quality indicator important to monitor?
  • Be sure to address the impact of this indicator on the quality of care and patient safety.
• Why do new nurses need to be familiar with this particular quality indicator when providing patient care?

Collection and Distribution of Quality Indicator Data

• According to your interview and other resources, how does your organization collect data on this quality indicator?
• How does the organization disseminate aggregate data?
• What role do nurses play in supporting accurate reporting and high-quality results?
  • As an example, consider the importance of accurately entering data regarding nursing interventions.

After completing your script, practice delivering your tutorial several times before recording it.

Additional Requirements

• Audio communication: Deliver a professional, effective audio tutorial on a selected quality indicator that engages new nurses and motivates them to accurately report quality data in a timely fashion.
• Length: 8–10 minute audio recording. Use Kaltura to upload your recording to the courseroom, or provide a working link your instructor can access.
• Script: A separate document with the script or speaker’s notes is required. Important: Submissions that do not include the script or speaker’s notes will be returned as a non-performance.
• References: Cite a minimum of three scholarly and/or authoritative sources.
• APA: Submit, along with the recording, a separate reference page that follows APA style and formatting guidelines. For an APA refresher, consult the Evidence and APA page on Campus.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Describe nurses’ and the interdisciplinary team’s role in informatics with a focus on electronic health information and patient care technology to support decision making.
  • Describe the interdisciplinary team’s role in collecting and reporting quality indicator data to enhance patient safety, patient care outcomes, and organizational performance reports.
• Competency 3: Evaluate the impact of patient care technologies on desired outcomes.
  • Explain how a health care organization uses nursing-sensitive quality indicators to enhance patient safety, patient care outcomes, and organizational performance reports.
• Competency 4: Recommend the use of a technology to enhance quality and safety standards for patients.
  • Justify how a nursing-sensitive quality indicator establishes evidence-based practice guidelines for nurses to follow when using patient care technologies to enhance patient safety, satisfaction, and outcomes.
• Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication to facilitate use of health information and patient care technologies.
  • Deliver a professional, effective audio tutorial on a selected quality indicator that engages new nurses and motivates them to accurately report quality data in a timely fashion.
  • Follow APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.