TOPIC Assignment: The Impact of Nursing Informatics on Patient Outcomes and Patient Care Efficiencies
In the Discussion for this module, you considered the interaction of nurse informaticists with other specialists to ensure successful care. How is that success determined?
Patient outcomes and the fulfillment of care goals is one of the major ways that healthcare success is measured. Measuring patient outcomes results in the generation of data that can be used to improve results. Nursing informatics can have a significant part in this process and can help to improve outcomes by improving processes, identifying at-risk patients, and enhancing efficiency.
To Prepare:
Review the concepts of technology application as presented in the Resources.
Reflect on how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence may help fortify nursing informatics as a specialty by leading to increased impact on patient outcomes or patient care efficiencies.
The Assignment: (4-5 pages)
In a 4- to 5-page project proposal written to the leadership of your healthcare organization, propose a nursing informatics project for your organization that you advocate to improve patient outcomes or patient-care efficiency. Your project proposal should include the following:
Describe the project you propose.
Identify the stakeholders impacted by this project.
Explain the patient outcome(s) or patient-care efficiencies this project is aimed at improving and explain how this improvement would occur. Be specific and provide examples.
Identify the technologies required to implement this project and explain why.
Identify the project team (by roles) and explain how you would incorporate the nurse informaticist in the project team.
By Day 7 of Week 3
Submit your completed Project Proposal.
Submission and Grading Information
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Impact of Nursing Informatics
Name
Academic Institution
Impact of Nursing Informatics
The nursing informatics project is to establish a comprehensive electronic health record for the healthcare facility. The electronic health record project will comprise of a platform to be used to store patients’ data (Dunn Lopez et al., 2017). The data will be stored securely in a system which cannot be interfered with by fire or other hazards. The comprehensive approach of the project is to ensure the health records will include patients’ profile, history of treatment, medication records, nursing notes, test results, and progress notes. The electronic record will comprise of security systems to ensure it is not hacked by unauthorized people. The purpose of the project is to ensure the efficiency of accessing information and the accuracy of data when prescribing drugs (Field, Fong & Shade, 2018). The data can be transmitted or accessed by a medical specialist within the health facility.
The project will require the input of various stakeholders and it will change how various healthcare providers operate. Electronic health records will eliminate cases of mistakes that lead to medical complications or errors (Welton & Harper, 2015). Therefore, it will affect the patients by improving the quality of patient care they should expect from the facility. It will affect the patients since their health records will be stored securely. When patients come back after a long time, it will be easy to view their history and asses their condition (Gephart, Carrington & Finley, 2015). Patients will also be secure from misdiagnosis or wrong drug prescription since the system will be automated with the nursing notes. Therefore, every patient will receive the right drugs.
The project will also impact the hospital and the healthcare providers. They will have easy access to the information they need about their patients. Easy access will save time. Previously, nurses had to look for files manually and in some cases, the files could go missing (Westra et al., 2015). Medical errors were also likely to occur while files were being transferred. The hospital will not receive any legal cases due to exposing patients’ information the unauthorized people (Kleib, Simpson & Rhodes, 2016). The reason is that in the past, files could be stolen. However, in the case of electronic health records, they are secure and it is only the authorized people who can access the information.
Patient Outcomes
Electronic health records will provide accurate, complete and up-to-date information about patients. The updated information will be used by healthcare providers to offer intensive care and accurate treatment. Patients outcomes will improve since the easy access to health records will provide efficient care to patients (Dunn Lopez et al., 2017). Therefore, all patients will be treated on time since their data will be easily available. In some cases, patients’ health has deteriorated due to delays in diagnosing or assessing the history of a patient (Field, Fong & Shade, 2018). For example, the adoption of electronic health records has increased from 31 percent in 2003 to 99 percent in 2018. The growth in percentages shows that electronic health records are preferable due to their ability to improve patient care.
The systems will provide the security and privacy of the data. Patients who are suffering from chronic diseases will not be exposed. The systems will be secured with passwords and they will have security systems to prevent hacking (Field, Fong & Shade, 2018). It will also be essential in reducing the cost of treatment by eliminating paperwork. The cost of printing results or using files to store information will be eliminated. It is also essential and credible, complete and fast billing of health costs to the government or the insurer. Additionally, the information will be safe thus ensuring accurate prescription and treatment procedures (Welton & Harper, 2015). For example, in the absence of electronic health records, medical errors would contribute to 250,000 deaths every year.
Technologies Required
The technology requires is software from Allscripts EHR solution. They will provide the layout and customize the design to the specific requirements of the healthcare facility. The purpose of installing a new system is to ensure it is safe from data breaches. The software will be installed on computers that are interconnected to enhance the transfer of data (Gephart, Carrington & Finley, 2015). Layouts for each center such as the pharmacist and the nurses will be customized to the information they each need. Therefore, other components that will be installed should be in compliance with HIPAA and HITECH to ensure there is a secure flow of data (Gephart, Carrington & Finley, 2015). It should also involve Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption to ensure the data is shared safely over the internet or over various computers.
An audit trail will be added into the system to ensure every action is tracked and reported. It is also important to ensure that the system is protected by the best multi-layered security features. The passwords should also be stored secured and should not be published on the web (Westra et al., 2015). It is also important to install a feature that will protect passwords in various ways. One of the ways is to lock the site if the wrong password is entered many times. It should have complex password requirements to ensure unauthorized people cannot guess the password (Westra et al., 2015). The password should also have security questions. It is also essential to have two-step, authentication process. Electronic health records will give patients information that is correct, complete, and up-to-date. With the new information, health care providers will be able to give more intensive care and more accurate treatment. The health of patients will get better because they will be able to get to their health records easily (Dunn Lopez et al., 2017). So, all patients will get care on time because their information will be easy to find. In some cases, patients’ health has gotten worse because it took too long to diagnose them or look at their medical history (Field, Fong & Shade, 2018). For instance, the number of people who use electronic health records has gone from 31% in 2003 to 98% in 2018. The increase in percentages shows that electronic health records are better because they can improve care for patients. The systems will make sure that the data is safe and private. Patients with long-term illnesses will not be put at risk. Hackers won’t be able to get into the systems because they will be protected with passwords and security systems (Field, Fong & Shade, 2018). It will also be important for lowering the cost of care by getting rid of paperwork. It will no longer cost money to print out results or use files to store information. It is also important, accurate, complete, and quick for the government or insurance company to get a bill for health care costs. Also, the information will be safe, which will make sure that prescriptions and treatment procedures are correct (Welton & Harper, 2015). For example, medical mistakes would cause 250,000 deaths every year if there weren’t electronic health records.
Project Team
The project will comprise of various stakeholders who will be entrusted with various roles. One of the major roles is the technician who will install the software. The technician can be Helped by a team of software developers from the client company (Kleib, Simpson & Rhodes, 2016). The purpose of involving the company experts is to ensure they install the system in the best way possible. It is necessary to engage the hospital software technician who will be responsible for checking the progress of the system. It will also be his or her role to fix minor issues that may be reported. Another personnel is the top management that will oversee and authorize the new system to be implemented. They will also authorize the information to be transferred from the old to the new system (Kleib, Simpson & Rhodes, 2016). The pharmacist will be involved to provide information about the available drugs.
The nursing informaticist will be necessary for the implementation of the new electronic health records system. The reason for the involvement is to ensure the informaticist will collect and analyze information about patients from the system (Dunn Lopez et al., 2017). Therefore, he or she needs to know how the system operates. The role of integrating information, data, and knowledge is crucial in a healthcare organization. It helps in generating new solutions to handle patients thus improving the patient care. It is thus crucial to involve the nursing informaticist to help in customizing the system to allow the easier collection of data about the number of patients treated and the conditions handled (Dunn Lopez et al., 2017). The knowledge will be integrated with the available data to provide recommendations on how to improve patient care.
References
Dunn Lopez, K., Gephart, S. M., Raszewski, R., Sousa, V., Shehorn, L. E., & Abraham, J. (2017). An integrative review of clinical decision support for registered nurses in acute care settings. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 24(2), 441-450.
Field, M., Fong, K., & Shade, C. (2018). Use of electronic visibility boards to improve patient care quality, safety, and flow on inpatient pediatric acute care units. Journal of pediatric nursing, 41, 69-76.
Gephart, S., Carrington, J. M., & Finley, B. (2015). A systematic review of nurses’ experiences with unintended consequences when using the electronic health record. Nursing administration quarterly, 39(4), 345-356.
Kleib, M., Simpson, N., & Rhodes, B. (2016). Information and communication technology: design, delivery, and outcomes from a nursing informatics boot camp. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 21(2).
Welton, J. M., & Harper, E. M. (2015). Nursing care value-based financial models. Nursing Economics, 33(1), 14.
Westra, B. L., Clancy, T. R., Sensmeier, J., Warren, J. J., Weaver, C., & Delaney, C. W. (2015). Nursing knowledge: big data science—implications for nurse leaders. Nursing administration quarterly, 39(4), 304-310.
