NURS FPX 6025 Assessment 3

Practicum and Scholarly Article

The practicum experience is a crucial connection between theoretical knowledge and clinical practice and enables nursing students to apply what they have learned in a practical environment. These two components, when supplemented with academic papers that present analyses based on evidence, lay the foundation for enhancing nursing practice (Ko et al., 2022). Through a better understanding of the nursing theory and its implementation, theoretical and practical research contributes to the enhancement of patient care, the development of the profession, and the strengthening of the clinician’s skills. The present work focuses on the systematic review of the available literature and the practicum to identify factors affecting the competency of nurses and patient care.

Summary of a Nursing Informatics Journal Article

A typical journal article on nursing informatics often discusses specific systems and technologies that facilitate nursing processes and patient care. These articles focus on the importance of EHRs as a tool for handling patient data and ensuring continuity of care, mainly due to easy access to real-time information (Hossain et al., 2023). In addition, the integration of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) is often highlighted as a way of assisting nurses and other healthcare providers to make more accurate judgments based on sound evidence.

Another significant field is telemedicine technologies, especially after COVID when remote consultations and patient monitoring are critical. To satisfy these requirements while working on patient needs and at the same time assuring the safety and confidentiality of data, the application of these technologies in healthcare systems is facilitated by nursing informatics (Layman, 2020). Many papers also address data analysis, especially big data, and explain how trend analysis of patients may serve to enhance the creation of effective treatment strategies and resource management, as well as identify potential precursors of various diseases.

The role of nurse informaticists specializing in roles that seek to translate nursing practice knowledge with technology is highlighted in these journal articles (Norman et al., 2021). Some of their responsibilities include designing of user-friendly system, training the nursing staff on new technology, and ensuring compliance with laws governing health care such as HIPAA among others. The papers also cover challenges like anti-technology sentiments, the growing digital disparities, and the need for lifelong training as technological advancement continues to record breakneck progress.

Historical Development and Evolution

The application of computers within the field of health care commenced in the 1960s, this can be viewed historically as the period in which nursing informatics arose. The initial implementations focused on the use of computer technology in billing and patient admittance in hospitals; however, advances in technology meant that computers could also affect clinical treatment (Abdellatif et al., 2020). Nursing informatics finally emerged as its discipline in the 1980s due to the advocacies of Drs. Patricia Schwirian and Virginia Saba encouraged the application of information science in nursing. It began to focus on developing tools for patient care management, decision-making tools, and data tools.

The use of electronic health records started in the 1990s introducing significant changes in the healthcare records system. The advancement of clinical decision support systems and tools, data analytics, telehealth, and other technologies also advanced the field of nursing informatics (McFarland et al., 2019). Nursing informatics has become crucial for ensuring that core processes regarding quality patient care are evidence-informed, efficient, and agile. More so, advancements in technologies such as big data analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) have become pivotal in the practice of nursing and the healthcare sector.

Health IT Implementation and Challenges

Electronic health records (EHRs) have brought significant changes in healthcare settings through Health Information Technology (Health IT), processes, data availability, and decision-making. This has led to the enhancement of key systems such as CDSS, telemedicine, and EHR to enhance the overall delivery of health care (Silva et al., 2021). These technologies enable the efficient sharing of patient data, enhanced communication among providers, and decreased rates of errors. More importantly, health IT offers evidence-based practice by offering data insight that defines treatment regimens and identifies efficient patient management techniques.

Nonetheless, there are some challenges that organizations can encounter while seeking to adopt health IT. One of the issues that persist is the high cost of implementing new technology, this ranges from the software and hardware technology that is needed to support the new technology as well as the continuing maintenance expenses. Besides, the non-adherence to training or resistance to change may hamper the ability of healthcare personnel to work with new systems. Another big challenge is data security since health organizations may have to comply with data protection laws such as HIPAA (Cleary et al., 2019). Interoperability between different applications and connected systems can be an issue because incompatible systems can cause problems when information is shared between them, which is always problematic in extensive healthcare facilities. To implement health IT and overcome these challenges, what is needed is a comprehensive health IT plan that focuses on training, leadership, and user-centered design.

Nursing Informatics Career Opportunities

Many positions can be found in the nursing informatics area due to the increasing reliance of healthcare on tech and data. Through the development, implementation, and optimization of such technologies in patient care, the role of nurse informatics is vital in closing the gap between clinical practice and health IT (Lokmic et al., 2021). Job opportunities in this field include clinical informatics specialist, healthcare data analyst, and EHR implementation consultant. These experts work hard to ensure that health information technologies augment various therapeutic processes and patients’ experiences hence increasing efficiency.

Nurse informaticists can assume leadership positions as director of health informatics or informatics nurse manager in addition to expertise roles. These jobs involve heading the multimodal teams, overseeing the development of the health IT strategies, as well as ensuring compliance with the health laws (Wright et al., 2022). Nurse informatics might also seek out positions in research and academia; positions where one analyses the role of informatics within health or where one prepares others for this role. Nursing informatics is a promising and constantly growing field that offers numerous positions that will improve healthcare in the future to accompany the advancements in technology.

Integration of Nursing and Technology

As a result of the integration of technology in the field of nursing, healthcare has gained a revolution in terms of both the nurse processes and the patients. Gaining and documenting the patients’ information can be easy through EHR to reduce the rate of medical error and to improve healthcare services coordination (Von et al., 2022). Clinical decision support systems abbreviated as CDSS are examples of technology that assist nurses in decision-making concerning patient interventions to enable the right and appropriate interventions to be made. These tools enable optimal handling of patient information, exchange of vital information between health caregivers, and provide crucial insight into the situation of patients thus enhancing the quality of care received.

Furthermore, telehealth developments have expanded the distribution of remote nursing services, where nurses can supervise patients, and offer consultations and care to vulnerable groups (Reid et al., 2021). These details from wearables and remote monitoring systems which are available in the patient data mean that nurses can give preventive interventions and individualized treatment. The use of technology helps to enhance performance and outcomes alongside ensuring that the nurses’ efforts are directed toward patient care. It is equally important for the future direction of nursing and technology to improve with the capability of solving future healthcare issues and advance the nursing profession as healthcare moves forward with embracing innovation.

Conclusion

To sum up, by improving the quality of patient care and adjusting the nursing processes the technology will significantly advance the sphere of nursing and the method of healthcare in general. CDSS alongside EHRs has facilitated the easy arrangement of data to make effective and informed decisions (Schuelke et al., 2019). There are numerous benefits of using these technologies on the quality and efficient health care delivery even if there are costs such as expensive equipment and data security challenges. The field of specialization known as nursing informatics has expanded and it encouraged the advancement in the area of healthcare as well as opening a variety of employment opportunities. Nursing will also require making technology central to solving future healthcare challenges and improving patients’ experience as the field evolves.

References

Abdellatif, A., Bouaud, J., Nghiem, D., Lafuente-Lafuente, C., Belmin, J., & Seroussi, B. (2020). Clinical decision support systems in nursing homes: A scoping review. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 270, 542–546. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI200219

Cleary, M., RN, PhD, West, S., RN, PhD, Arthur, D., RN, PhD, & Kornhaber, R., RN, PhD (2019). Change management in health care and mental health nursing. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 40(11), 966–972. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2019.1609633

Hossain, E., Rana, R., Higgins, N., Soar, J., Barua, P. D., Pisani, A. R., & Turner, K. (2023). Natural Language Processing in Electronic Health Records concerning healthcare decision-making: A systematic review. Computers in Biology and Medicine, 155, 106649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2023.106649

Ko, A., Burson, R., & Turner, J. A. (2022). Strengthening DNP business acumen: An educational intervention. The Journal of Nursing Education, 61(4), 201–204. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20211128-05

Lokmic, Z., Brar, S., Lin, N., Khor, M., Mathews, K., & Lawlor, K. (2021). Advancing nursing informatics through clinical placements: Pilot study. Studies in Health Technology And Informatics, 284, 98–102. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI210678

Layman E. J. (2020). Ethical issues and the electronic health record. The Health Care Manager, 39(4), 150–161. https://doi.org/10.1097/HCM.0000000000000302

McFarland, M. R., & Wehbe-Alamah, H. B. (2019). Leininger’s theory of culture care diversity and universality: an overview with a historical retrospective and a view toward the future. Journal of Transcultural Nursing: Official Journal of the Transcultural Nursing Society, 30(6), 540–557. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659619867134

Norman, L., Wells, B., & Edwards, A. P. (2021). From policy to practice: A DNP student perspective. Nursing Forum, 56(3), 630–634. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12582

Reid, L., Maeder, A., Button, D., Breaden, K., & Brommeyer, M. (2021). Defining nursing informatics: A narrative review. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 284, 108–112. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI210680

Schuelke, S., Aurit, S., Connot, N., & Denney, S. (2019). Virtual nursing: The new reality in quality care. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 43(4), 322–328. https://doi.org/10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000376

Swindail, A., & Watkins, R. (2024). Clinical informatics in pre-registration nurse education. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 315, 494–498. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI240198

Silva, R. N. D., & Ferreira, M. A. (2021). Nursing and society: Evolution of nursing and capitalism in the 200 years of Florence Nightingale. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.4482.3425

Von, H., Moen, H., Block, L. J., Chu, C. H., DeForest, H., Hobensack, M., Michalowski, M., Mitchell, J., Nibber, R., Olalia, M. A., Pruinelli, L., Ronquillo, C. E., Topaz, M., & Peltonen, L. M. (2022). Artificial Intelligence -based technologies in nursing: A scoping literature review of the evidence. International journal of nursing studies, 127, 104153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2021.104153

Wright, R., Lee, Y. J., Yoo, A., McIltrot, K., VanGraafeiland, B., Saylor, M. A., Taylor, J., & Han, H. R. (2022). Doctor of nursing practice project: Key challenges and possible solutions. Journal of Professional Nursing: Official Journal of The American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 41, 53–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2022.04.004