Nursing Informatics module 1.3

Because of the necessity of informatics which I mentioned previously, it seems that it would be highly beneficial to partner with nursing informatics colleagues. Although nursing informatics competencies are being framed for nurse practitioners (and other graduate-level nurses), informatics seems like a complex field. It will be difficult to be an expert on informatics at the same time as being an expert on patient outcome management. As we move to different jobs, or as our workplaces offer new advances in information technology, we may need some serious help to understand and maximize the new technologies. An NI associate would be helpful in these cases.

Nursing Informatics module 1.2

Skills in information management and IT will be vital for graduate level nurses in the future. I will be graduating as a clinical nurse leader in two years. One major focus of a clinical nurse leader, as defined by the AACN, is to improve patient outcomes in a variety of care settings, and for a variety of patient populations. In order to manage these outcomes, it will be important to gather all of the information available about each patient. Clinical nurse leaders (and APRNs and DNPs) will have to deal with huge amounts of information in order to make appropriate decisions regarding a patient's care. Curran (2003) states that "with an increased understanding of informatics, an individual gains knowledge concerning the possibilities and limitations of sysematically processing data, information, and knowledge, and concerning the consequent impact on quality decision making" (321). We will be better able to gather information, and process it, for our patients' ultimate benefit.

Nursing Informatics module 1.1

I currently work at the University of Utah Hospital, as an RN. I work on 6 North, which is an orthopedic med-surg unit. In the two years that I have worked there, I have noticed dramatic changes in the informatics of the floor and hospital. When I started my job, I was surprised to learn that our charting was done on paper. However, as of June first of this year, we have moved on to electronic charting called Powerchart. This change has had a huge effect on the health care on my floor. Some of the benefits are that health care workers (nurses, health care assistants, APRNs, physicians, and others) are able to view various aspects of any patient's care summary from any computer in the hospital, instead of having to hunt down the patient's chart. This includes nurses notes, vital signs, medications given, etc. Also, for us night nurses, chart checks have been made easier. A drawback of the new system is that for nurses and aides who are accustomed to paper charting, the computerized charting takes a lot longer, and we are still learning how to chart certain things. Also, it seems that there are some glitches still to be worked out (sometimes the computers do not allow us to chart what we need to). In the near future, we have been told that the physicians and APRNs will "go live" and that they will write their orders electronically. This will hopefully help reduce transcription errors and will help ensure that their orders will be carried out. Also, they will be writing progress notes electronically, which will be a relief to a lot of people who have trouble reading doctors' handwriting!