Nursing Informatics: A Core Competency for the Profession

Abstract

This chapter provides the reader with a summary of nursing informatics, considering how it has evolved over a 50-year timeframe to become a core competency for the profession of nursing in twenty-first century healthcare. In this chapter we describe the background and context of nursing informatics and why it is a critical enabler for the advancement of the profession. Drawing on nursing theory and historical milestones on development of informatics within health and social care service delivery. This chapter uses an adaptation of the CARE acronym with four core concepts namely Connected health, Administration, Research, and Education to present the evidence and provide insights on key influences shaping the development and advancement of digital within the profession. Specifically this chapter focuses on introducing the reader to critical factors are which driving the practice of nursing informatics in order to impact upon patient outcomes, and deliver a quality orientated global health and social care service over time. This chapter therefore acts as a primer for chapters which follow in this fifth edition, and presents the fundamental concepts of nursing informatics in context. It provides an introductory and summative chapter for those who do not have a background in this topic and who wish to understand how nursing informatics is emerging as a core competency for the profession.

Glossary

Careflow

A mapping activity of the healthcare encounter or service delivery process between health care professionals and patients, which describes the health and social care service activity through one to many service and data flow points

C-HOBIC

Canadian Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care

CIHI

Canadian Institute for Health Information

Cloud computing

A term used to describe a new form computing, “cloud” computing relates to remote based computing, instead of storing and processing all of your information locally, all computation and storage is done remotely on the “cloud” which is an external server or network of servers

Co-production

Co-production is about care that is delivered in an equal and reciprocal relationship between clinical and non-clinical professionals and the individuals using care services, their families, carers and communities. Co-production therefore goes beyond models of engagement, since it implies a long-term relationship between people, providers and health systems where information, decision-making and service delivery become shared

CPM

Clinical Practice Model

CPOE

Computerised provider order entry system

DHC

Digital Health Canada

Digital Health

Digital Health is used as an umbrella term for areas including eHealth, telehealth, mHealth and more. Digital Health is the integration of all information and knowledge sources involved in the delivery of healthcare via information technology (IT)-based systems. This includes information created by caregivers, often within electronic health record systems at a hospital or GP practice, and information created by patients using apps, monitoring devices and wearable sensors. Digital health information also includes management and administrative information needed to co-ordinate and manage activities within the healthcare system

eHealth

eHealth is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for health (WHO 2005)

Empowerment

Empowerment is about supporting people and communities to take control of their own health needs resulting, for example, in the uptake of healthier behaviours, the ability of people to self-manage their own illnesses and changes in people’s living environments

EMR

Electronic medical system

Engagement

Engagement is about people and communities being involved in the design, planning and delivery of health services, enabling them to make choices about care and treatment options or to participate in strategic decision-making on how, where and on what health resources should be spent. Engagement is also related to the community’s capacity to self-organize and generate changes in their living environments

FHIR

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources Specification is a set of standards that guides how systems code, transmit, and receive data using smart and mobile devices

Health

Health as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity (WHO 1948)

Interoperability

Interoperability is the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use information that has been exchanged

ITU

International Telecommunication Union

mHealth

A term for medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices , and other wireless devices

NNDS

National Nursing Data Standards

PAHO

Pan American Health Organisation

Personalization

Services designed specifically for individuals and their unique healthcare needs

Telehealth

The delivery of healthservices using ICTs, specifically where distance is a barrier to health care

Workarounds

A strategy for working around a software misfit in order to solve the problems that the poorly designed software fails to address

Workflow

Depiction of actual sequence of the operations or actions taken in a process Ref Systems of Concepts for Continuity of Care ISO 13940