Nursing Informatics- What is it?

Nursing Informatics is a specialty that integrates nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, and knowledge in nursing practice, according to the American Nursing Standards committee in 2006.

I recently attended a conference on Nursing Informatics that was held locally, and again I was surprised by the content. This area of nursing is one that is often taken for granted. We have all become capable of using the IT tools that have been provided to us to complete our everyday tasks, but seldom do we think about those who were involved in the construction and implementation of these large systems.

An example of one such system is the PHR or the Patient Health Record. Our organization is at different levels of adaptation with regards to a PHR than others. For example, one of our smaller satellite sites is fully automated with the patient care record, meaning that medical staff document on an 'online' chart. One nursing unit within our larger facility is as well. There are plans in the future to get the rest of the organization "on board" with this. But there are many obstacles to overcome first. They are; acceptance on behalf of the users, education, and network support.

Nursing Informatics is nonetheless prevalent in our practice. CNIA is a national organization that is dedicated to the advancement and education of informatics as it relates to nursing. The future of doing business in the health care sector is included in the move to an IT environment. The challenge is to encourage people to embrace IT, accept IT, understand IT, and above all use IT.

Choosing the Right Path

As I did some research into my own continuing education, I found more information than I was prepared for. By merely typing in a few key words, the world seems to be at your doorstep. I struggled with which path to choose. I knew I wanted to complete a masters degree.....I had always wanted that since my early 20s. I thought that I wanted to study education, and therefore did some extensive research. I found some wonderful schools that offered what I thought I was looking for. One that was particularily interesting to me was the St. FX Adult Education Program. I gave this some serious thought for several months. Recognizing that I am not currently in an education role at this time, and the probability of changing my career path in the near future was small, I let go of the idea of an education degree.
This lead me to consider a masters degree in nursing, something which I felt I would not do. For whatever reason, I was never interested in persuing a MN. I had no reason behind this decision on my part, I had a rewarding BN experience, I like nursing, but for whatever reason I just wanted to do something "different". That being said, I went 'online' yet again, to see what was out there. I knew of Athabasca University, as many of my co-workers were pursuing the Advanced Nursing Practice stream. I knew that was not for me. I had made a personal decision that I was done the portion of my career caring for patients directly. I really enjoy being in a mangerial role. I enjoy encouraging people in their own career development. I enjoy the challenge of managing the financial portions for which I am resoponsible, and I really enjoy being a voice of change. That lead me to the leadership stream of the MN. I thought "this is for me". This is what I am going to do.
Having made my decision, I decided to discuss the program with those I knew were currently enrolled. I did not do this before, I did not want people to think I might be interested in pursuing a masters course because then they would ask how's it going, and if I decided not to pursue it, there would be too much explaining, or so I thought. These conversations were eye openers to me. The more I heard, the more apprehensive I got. I am a struture person, nothing wrong with that I am sure, but the notion of me controlling when I do things, trying to juggle the balance of getting online to participate in my our education, I could see disaster. I felt that this would never hit the target in my household. Full time working mom of 2 active boys, looking for time to get online to complete a degree. Knowing myself, I knew that I would only start at 10 o'clock at night. What was I going to get out of that? I can see for those who are well organized, who MAKE it a priority, it would be wonderful. But that is just not me.
So again, I think about what I really want. What do I like? Where am I? Where do I want to be? Does it mean a masters in Nursing, or something else? I need to attend classes, be part of a visible interactive group. And then I remember....MBA. So sitting less than 2 miles from the Universite de Moncton, I log on to their website. I find what I am looking for. Something in my community, that I can physically attend, that is a reasonable time for me. And so here I am.
What I learned from this year and a half of searching for the right program for ME, is that one google search opens doors all around the world. There is something for everyone. I just had to go around the world to find something in my backyard.

Providing Education in a Busy Workplace

As a manger of two busy nursing units, I am often challenged to facilitate the continuing education of my staff members. As with any profession, continuing education is vital. Nurses need to know how to operate new equipment, document new assessments, and even broaden their scope of practice. Facilitating those who are interested in continuing their education is a challenge from several vantages. There are staffing issues, who can I find to replace the person when they are off? There are financial obstacles, who will pay for the education session? For those who are interested and driven to attend, these issues are not barriers. However, for those who are not as motivated as others, these can be huge.
How can an organization facilitate learning in a busy workplace?
In my organization, the Department of Organizational Learning has put in place a comprehensive e-learning database. This database covers a variety of learning requirements. This allows staff to access educational sessions through the use of power-point on any computer in the building as it is available through our intranet. Examples of topics covered are; hand washing, our emergency fire and disater response plan, proper body mechanics when moving patients, as well as a variety of advanced nursing competencies (theory portion). This has proven to be highly successful for those educational sessions that can be delivered in this format. The challenge is that not every topic can be covered in this manner.
What else can we do then?
In an effort to ensure important educational information is communicated, our organization uses learning lunches as a format to offer educational sessions to staff members. This allows staff to participate in vital educational session while in the workplace. This includes new equipement updates, and educational sessions on infectious diseases, to name a few. By using these two ideas we can capture our audiance while they are at work, thus decreasing the requirement of adding another obligation to those while juggling home and work life.