Posted: March 16th, 2022

Communication is a substantial barrier in healthcare. Being able to access

Communication is a substantial barrier in healthcare. Being able to access medical records to properly care for patients based on their history is imperative to their health and well-being. Navigating through antiquated systems is another immense hurdle that must be addressed. As nurse educators, we not only must learn and teach many systems, but we also must teach students how to utilize paper charting due to technology mishaps. Considering HIPPA regulations, our students are at a disadvantage in accessing medical records. Clinical rotations allow the students time to navigate through each system, but not to access data that is necessary for providing adequate care based on facility statistics. Students do not have any connection with the nurse informaticists and/or data or technology specialists. The information provided to the students is limited and not conducive to the learning environment. Having access to the data within the healthcare system would afford students the opportunity to research high incidences of infection rates, epidemics, and incidents (falls/seizures/abuse) within the facility. Being able to comprehend the cause of any incidence will build upon their knowledge and improve their awareness. An example of this would be to have the ability to recognize poor scrubbing prior to entering the OR, resulting in increased infections post-surgery. Another example would include recognizing safety hazards (cords, clutter) resulting in patient falls. When students are able to infer risks, their heightened awareness may prevent negative consequences. This would all begin with access to the necessary information and/or informaticists.

In our local hospital, there is not a designated “informatics” nurse, however, there are several individuals that play the role of collecting, analyzing, and recording data. The infection control nurse, nurse managers, and nurse educators are huge advocates of this process. They assist with making the necessary changes to correct or implement crucial policies and procedures to ensure that quality care is provided. They also provide vital research that is based on EBP to the staff to better understand changes being enforced. Information is conveyed in many ways to staff members. Emails are the first contact made to staff, yet many nurses spend little time reviewing the content of their emails. Information is also conveyed through HUDDLE meetings (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). While this may be the most effective way to communicate, nurses are caring for patients and not able to provide their undivided attention losing focus on the material. Some staff may also be off work on the days that HUDDLE meetings are held. Nurse managers are placed in their positions because of their experience and expert knowledge and will allow them the ability to ”organize, set up, and own the development of nursing informatics solutions” (Mosier, 2019).

The continued evolution of nursing informatics as a specialty would benefit the nursing population if they were to consider the input of the regular staff. Regular staff contend with the dynamics of daily incidents and are well versed in the response that is needed and successful. Nursing informatics staff should be one that will collaborate with all entities within the facility prior to making changes affecting the entire facility. Nursing informatics staff could be a huge asset to educational facilities by providing them with the most compelling information prior to beginning clinical rotations.

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). The Nurse Informaticist [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2017). NURSING INFORMATICS AND THE FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE. [S.l.]: JONES & BARTLETT LEARNING

Mosier, Sammie, DHA, MA, BSN, NE-BC, CMSRN, BC, Roberts, Wm., Dan PhD, RN, et al. (2019). A Systems-Level Method for Developing Nursing Informatics Solutions: The Role of Executive Leadership. Journal of Nursing Administration, 49, 543-548. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000815

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