Reflection on Healthcare Technologies
Week 4 Reflection
Helen Einer
NURS-6015 Information and Healthcare Technologies Applied to Nursing Practice
Walden University
July 24, 2010 Week 4 Reflection
The ongoing development of computer technology and telecommunications has provided the healthcare industry with continuous opportunities to enhance communication, provide education, improve patient safety, and create new IT jobs within the industry. By 2014, the American health care industry will look toward full adoption of electronic health records (Hood, 2010, p. 386). The resources and information along with discussions with fellow classmates during the first half of this course has greatly improved my understanding of the numerous aspects of medical and nursing informatics.
Prior to enrolling in this course my concept of nursing informatics was rather limited. I believed that nursing informatics was utilizing a computer at the bedside while providing patient care to document data and information. While nurses continue to utilize computers to document, I have come to realize that nursing informatics also provides nurses with limitless resources for their patients, families, coworkers, and themselves. Nursing informatics is considered a subspecialty of healthcare informatics. Nursing informatics facilitates the integration of data, information and knowledge to support patients, nurses, and other providers in their decision making in all roles and settings (Hebda & Czar, 2009, p. 12). Over the past ten years in my nursing career, I have seen many changes regarding the use of informatics which play key roles in the delivery of patient care. It is no wonder that informatics is now a specialized field and is a necessity, not a luxury, in today’s rapidly changing healthcare delivery system (Hebda & Czar, p. 41).
The weekly discussions have shown that many healthcare systems across the country have some of the same issues and concerns regarding medical informatics, especially computerized physician
Helen Einer
NURS-6015 Information and Healthcare Technologies Applied to Nursing Practice
Walden University
July 24, 2010 Week 4 Reflection
The ongoing development of computer technology and telecommunications has provided the healthcare industry with continuous opportunities to enhance communication, provide education, improve patient safety, and create new IT jobs within the industry. By 2014, the American health care industry will look toward full adoption of electronic health records (Hood, 2010, p. 386). The resources and information along with discussions with fellow classmates during the first half of this course has greatly improved my understanding of the numerous aspects of medical and nursing informatics.
Prior to enrolling in this course my concept of nursing informatics was rather limited. I believed that nursing informatics was utilizing a computer at the bedside while providing patient care to document data and information. While nurses continue to utilize computers to document, I have come to realize that nursing informatics also provides nurses with limitless resources for their patients, families, coworkers, and themselves. Nursing informatics is considered a subspecialty of healthcare informatics. Nursing informatics facilitates the integration of data, information and knowledge to support patients, nurses, and other providers in their decision making in all roles and settings (Hebda & Czar, 2009, p. 12). Over the past ten years in my nursing career, I have seen many changes regarding the use of informatics which play key roles in the delivery of patient care. It is no wonder that informatics is now a specialized field and is a necessity, not a luxury, in today’s rapidly changing healthcare delivery system (Hebda & Czar, p. 41).
The weekly discussions have shown that many healthcare systems across the country have some of the same issues and concerns regarding medical informatics, especially computerized physician