Reply on nurse informatics post
Thank you, Sarah, for your well-thought post. Indeed, nurse informatics act as Information Systems (IT) consultant and educators. Nurse informatics applies their expertise in information technology to improve care delivery workflow and patient outcomes by consulting to resolve nurse issues affecting care (Francis, 2016). The solutions they offer are mainly through coordination between them and practising nurses. As noted by Ibrahim et al. (2019), teamwork is highly encouraged in the practising environment to ensure free sharing of challenges. Within our facility, we have established a channel of communication which allows nurses to share challenges and help each other to solve them. Only challenges that are beyond our abilities are then shared with the nurse informatics by the nurse manager. Establishing efficient channels of communication allows nurse informatics to perform optimally by avoiding un-necessary interruptions when every nurse has to consult for every issue faced. However, critical issues that may affect the efficiency or quality of care are exempted from the rule hence involved nurses can consult with the nurse informatics immediately.
References
Francis, I. (2016). Nursing Informatics and the Metaparadigms of Nursing. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics.
Ibrahim, S., Donelle, L., Regan, S., & Sidani, S. (2019). Exploration of Nurses’ Experience with Using Electronic Documentation Systems in Home Care. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI), 23(2).
Dear Ugochi, your post is interesting and informative. You have clearly highlighted the significance of interdependence between nurse informatics and other healthcare professionals. Basically, as noted in your post, nurse informatics help support and integrate the workflow among all the departments in a health facility (Ang, 2019). As a result, any breakdown in the mutual interdependence may have far-reaching adverse effects. Notably, a breakdown in the familiarity with hospital systems and equipment among nurses and other specialists can be catastrophic. According to Booth (2016), nurse informatics must always ensure nurses and other professionals are familiar with any newly installed technology. Nurse informatics achieves this through maintaining regular educative or training forums. They can also improve the IT knowledge and skill of other personnel through a need-basis program. Besides, healthcare technology is rapidly changing. The use of artificial intelligence and big data analysis calls for nurses and other healthcare professionals to take personal initiatives to improve their IT understanding.
References
Ang, R. J. (2019). Use of content management systems to address nursing workflow. International journal of nursing sciences.
Booth, R. G. (2016). Informatics and nursing in a post-nursing informatics world: Future directions for nurses in an automated, artificially intelligent, social-networked healthcare environment. Nursing Leadership, 28(4), 61-69.