Blog Journal entry 2

Meesha Carey- Module 2

Nurses as Power Users: The Role of Nursing Informatics in Health IT is Growing. By Mary Stevens (2010). Retrieved from http://www.clinical-innovation.com/topics/clinical-practice/nurses-power-users-role-nursing-informatics-health-it-growing

Why was this article, blog, post, or multimedia chosen?

This article was chosen because it was relevant to the topic of nursing informatics and also because it was interesting and informative.  

What makes it interesting, appropriate, or reputable?

The article was interesting, appropriate and reputable because it included several quotes as well as statistics from nursing professionals, some of which were educated at the masters and doctorate level.  When speaking of the growth of nursing informatics in health care IT, it was stated by Dorothy Jones, RN, EdD (Director of Yvonne L. Munn Center of Nursing Research at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor at the Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing) that “more nurses are actively participating in health IT use and format decisions, particularly in the clinical area around electronic documentation”. Jones continues to state that “the more you get this data in an electronic version, the more you can see the relationship between the elements of caregiving within the practice environment and care outcomes”.

Is it an opinion? Case study? Research study? Product review?

This article was based on researched information.

What was the need, problem, issue or trend addressed in the article, blog, post, or multimedia?

The need was for nursing clinicians to become involved in aspects of health care IT such as system analysis, design, selection, implementation and optimization of information technology. Nurses already play a major role in healthcare IT in their daily work schedule. They help with collecting important data and other necessary information that is used to improve patient care and ensure regulatory compliance.

What was the solution for which technology had an answer?

The importance here was to get nursing professionals more involved in healthcare IT so that they could have a greater impact on patient safety, workflow and user/clinician acceptance within and organization.

What implications might this have in healthcare delivery?

The implications in healthcare delivery is having a skilled nursing professional who can function in the role of a nurse as well as have the technical knowledge needed to search databases to gather information, understand how applications function,  implement software, and automate information in order to simplify the lives of health care professionals.

What did you learn from it that might have application for your practice?

I cannot really say I learned anything new from this article that I could apply to my practice. It was informative but not anything that I have already heard of or read about. It just reinforced the important role the nurse has in transforming the delivery of healthcare by being actively involved with IT.