Written Assignment 5: White Paper

Prior to this assignment i have never heard of a "white paper". I had to view a couple of videos on youtube to familiarize myself with what exactly i needed to include in the paper as well as it's purpose. This assignment reinforced what we have been learning about consumer informatics as well as the informatics nurses role in consumer health informatics. I've included my paper below.

Introduction

How healthcare is delivered is greatly dependent on the amount of information that is available to effectively make decisions. Evidenced Based Practice (EBP) and nursing actions are in part based on knowledge derived from information. Healthcare costs are on the rise and has led to numerous changes in the industry. Medicare reimbursements are starting to decrease as patient rehospitalizations have increased. This forces hospitals and home health care organizations to come up with ways to manage patient’s health conditions and control frequent rehospitalizations. This is where technology and informatics nurses come into play. With the use of technology health care providers are able to create an environment where all persons involved in the patient’s care can share information electronically for improvement in patient outcomes.

Access to health care information via the internet has been a major concern for patients and lack of access and involvement can lead to decreased health and poor outcomes. With the emergence of technology and improved access to information, patients are now able to take a more active role in their disease management. In an effort to reduce rehospitalizations and health care costs, as well as creating an environment where technology is at the center of patient care, nurses need specialized training in information and knowledge management. This is where the field of informatics comes into play.

Background

What is Nursing Informatics? Nursing Informatics can be defined as the science and practice that integrates nursing, its information and knowledge, with management of information and communication technologies to promote the health of people, families and communities (American Medical Informatics Association, 2015). Informatics nurses can function in many different roles such as educators, researchers, chief nursing officers, developers of communication and information technologies, software engineers and implementation consultants to name a few (American Medical Informatics Association, 2015). They may also participate in the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of electronic health records in health care organizations (American Dental Education Association, 2012). Their main area of focus includes data and communication standards to build an interoperable national data infrastructure, research methodologies to disseminate ne knowledge into clinical practice, and information and communication technologies to address inter-professional workflow needs across care venues (American Medical Informatics Association, 2015).

According to a survey done by the Healthcare Information and Management System Society (HIMSS), in 2014 the average salary for a nurse informatacist was $100,717 (American Dental Education Association, 2012).

According to a 2011 HIMSS Informatics Workflow Survey, the majority (68%) of informatics nurses work in a hospital or health care setting, 9% work in an academic setting, and 5% work as consultants or with different vendors (Parker & Martin, 2012). According to the same survey, a majority (46%) of the nurses that were surveyed had at least 16 years of direct patient care before transitioning into informatics. 20% stated that they had more than 11 years of experience (Parker & Martin, 2012). Although many informatics nurses have experience in many areas of nursing including education and management, most of them had experience in critical care and medical surgical nursing (Parker & Martin, 2012).

With all the changes seen in healthcare over the years, and consumers now needing to play a more active role in their disease management and overall health care, the role of the informatics nurse is becoming even more important. Informatics nurses can analyze, design, implement and evaluate information and communication systems in order to enhance individual and population health outcomes, improve patient care and strengthen the provider-patient relationship (Health Information and Management Systems Society, 2015).

Impact on Consumer Health

Nursing Informatics positions consumers in a way that makes access to information regarding their health easier. With this access comes a sense of empowerment. Informatics nurses are skilled at educating consumers on just how technology can be used to access any information they need from the internet. This enables consumers to be more confident in their ability to manage their condition and also improves compliance with treatment and a sense of trust with their health care provider.

Increased access to information on the internet and the introduction of electronic applications such as telehealth, has also shown improvement in outcomes for consumers who live in distant areas. Telehealth allows consumers to share their health information electronically via the internet with ease. Consumers no longer need to always leave their home to travel to their physician’s office for treatment or recommendations for symptom management. With telehealth, consumers can log on to a secure portal where he or she can interact with his or her physician or nurse, discuss disease processes and even have their medications electronically called into their nearby pharmacy without having to go in for a script.

As hospitals are being penalized for increased rehospitalization rates, there has been a shift in where care is being delivered the most. Through telehealth and internet advances, the point of care has been moved to the community (Lewis, 2007). With this shift there is an increased opportunity for nursing to influence health promotion. Initiatives, especially those that are community-based, are evolving. With this evolution comes the provision of remote access to care as well as systems for response and information in times of public health or national crisis (Lewis, 2007). The informatics nurse plays an important role in the design, development and delivery of these community-based initiatives (Lewis, 2007).

Their ability to transform data into knowledge improves care coordination between consumer and provider which in turn improves outcomes.

Future Direction

Informatics nurses also plays a major role in the development of policies and standards at all levels of care to ensure that the information that is being shared remains safe and credible. At the Federal level, standards are also being put into place in terms of the usability of technology as well as its accuracy and security. Social and ethical concerns must be taken into consideration as these help to shape the future of consumer health informatics. Nurses need to be educated on the importance of critical thinking as well as how to evaluate new technologies are they are introduced (Lewis, 2007).

Health care organizations should also play a role in supporting the role of nursing informatics. They can do this by forming partnerships with colleges of nursing in order to advance nursing informatics education. Organizations can encourage nurses by focusing on and developing their leadership, communications, critical thinking and technical skills in order to take on managerial roles. Last but not least, organizations need to create an environment that promotes professional development, mentoring and career advancement as well as reward nurses for excellence in patient care. This will not only benefit the nurse but everyone involved including the organization and the patients. Nurses will feel a sense of accomplishment as well as job satisfaction which leads to retention.

Conclusion

In an effort to reduce rehospitalization and health care costs, as well as to improve consumer access to healthcare and outcomes, nurses are relying of technology.  They are relying on technology that will improve the ease of information sharing and promote collaboration between consumers and providers. With improved access to information and a more collaborative approach, consumers are now more empowered and are taking a more active role in the management of their health.

The role of the informatics nurse has given clinicians the ability to blend nursing science with computer and information science in order to impact nursing care. The many different roles of the informatics nurse allow him or her to reach consumers in various health care settings. Whether the role involves education, research, information technology development, software engineering or system implementation, the common goal of the informatics nurse is to make information more accessible to consumers as well as to improve consumer engagement in their care.

Utilizing electronic applications such as telehealth allows consumers, especially those who live in distant areas or those who have difficulty leaving their home to see their physician, to receive care they would otherwise not have access to. This is extremely important especially in community based settings as more and more care is now being delivered in patient’s homes.

The informatics nurse will continue to play important roles in the delivery of health care and to consumer health care in the years to come. Continued education and educational development will be the key to adapting to the changes that have been seen in health care and that will continue to be seen. Organizations have an important role to play in developing and encouraging nurses to obtain the skills needed to meet the challenges of new technology as well as to take on more leadership roles in the future. Also, nursing leaders need to foster an environment that will promote professional development and career advancement. Recognition and rewards should also be utilized as a means of improving moral in the organization. As a result, an improvement in the quality of care being delivered to patients and consumers will be seen. Organizations will see an improvement in staff retention and their patient satisfaction scores. There will also be improvement in consumer satisfaction as consumers become empowered and more involved in the management of their health care.  

References

Lewis, D. (2007). Editorial: Evolution of Consumer Health Informatics. Retrieved from http://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=753381

Nursing Informaticist: Overview (2012). Retrieved from http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/Career/91/Nursing_Informaticist

Nursing Informatics (2015). American Medical Informatics Association. Retrieved from https://www.amia.org/programs/working-groups/nursing-informatics

Parker, C., Martin, K. (2012). What is a Nurse Informatics Specialist. Retrieved from http://www.himss.org/ResourceLibrary/ResourceDetail.aspx?ItemNumber=11750

What is Clinical Informatics? (2015). Health Information and Management Systems Society. Retrieved from http://www.himss.org/library/clinical-informatics/what-is