Nursing is the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice. Nursing informatics is broad, accommodates a diverse array of nursing strengths and interests, and impacts virtually every aspect of healthcare where technology integrates with clinical practice. No matter the setting, nurses who choose informatics as a career expand their reach beyond direct patient care, but they still experience the rewards of helping people and advocating for their profession. An example of what informatics nursing has done is show how sending vital signs from the machine directly into the EHR/charting system on medical/ surgical and telemetry units saves hours of manual documentation each day (Nursing informatics: The EHR and beyond – American Nurse. (2019, October)). They’ve done so many things to better healthcare and these nurses fly under the radar, when they are heroes to everyone. Improving and saving time so nurses can focus more on the actual patient, instead of charting.
Registered nurse who specializes in the integration of nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, and knowledge in nursing practice
Nursing plays a vital role in electronic health record adoption, not only because of their numbers but also their intimate understanding of workflow. Since not all nurses have the knowledge and skills to perform extensive usability testing; the informatics nurse specialist plays a critical role in the process and integrates nursing and informatics to develop ways to make everyone’s job easier. As technology and software become more sophisticated, usability principles must be used under the guidance of the informatics nurse specialist to provide a relevant, robust, and well-designed electronic health record to address the needs of the busy clinician (Rojas, C. L., & Seckman, C. A. (2014)).
Is a health information technology that provides clinicians, staff, patients, and other individuals with knowledge and person-specific information to enhance health care decision-making. Clinical decision support can effectively improve patient outcomes and lead to higher-quality health care. Examples of CDS tools include order sets created for certain conditions or types of patients. It develops recommendations and databases that can provide information relevant to particular patients, reminders for preventive care, and alerts about potentially dangerous situations (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019, June)).
Mobile health uses tech devices to monitor health, gather health-related data, and provide remote care. Some examples of mobile health devices include smartphones, wearable activity trackers, wireless connected scales, blood pressure cuffs, pulse-oximeters, and glucometers. Some nurses used their smartphones to locate information about medications, procedures, diagnoses, and laboratory tests. Downloaded apps were used by nurses to locate patient care–related information. Nurses reported improved communication among health team members and used their personal devices to communicate patient information via text messaging, calling, and picture and video functions (de Jong, A., Donelle, L., & Kerr, M. (2020)). Mobile medical devices range from smartphones to portable pulse ox machines, smartwatches, tablets that scan the body to any medical device used outside of the hospital. These machines are becoming more and more accessible, and families are able to get most just by the click of a button. Healthcare is changing and evolving, every year someone is developing the next best thing. The sky’s the limit.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019, June). Clinical Decision Support. Ahrq.gov.
de Jong, A., Donelle, L., & Kerr, M. (2020). Nurses’ Use of Personal Smartphone Technology in the Workplace: Scoping Review.