Sunday, December 1, 2013

What it is like to be a tomato.


 
As I mentioned in my first blog, nursing informatics encompasses and links together nursing science, practice, and knowledge, with computer science, information management, and technologies to promote the health of people, families, communities, and populations. The American Nurses Association (ANA) recognizes nursing informatics as a nursing specialty. There are many recognized nursing specialists; all are graduate-level prepared nurses who focus on a specific domain or population such as pediatrics, critical care, trauma, or oncology, to name a few. As an informatics nurse specialist (INS), I am a member of one of the youngest and newest nursing specialties. An INS brings to the workplace a unique set of skills that enable the analysis, design, and implementation of systems that support nursing in a variety of healthcare setting and functions.  An INS serves as a translator between nurse clinicians and information technology personnel to ensure that information systems capture critical nursing information.

At our hospital, the other nurse specialists have formed a group, in which they work together addressing common concerns such as evaluating nurse competencies. Each member of the group represents a clinical specialty such as perioperative, obstetrics, or emergency care.  Because the INS role is not well understood, it is not obvious to my colleagues why someone like me should be included in such a group.  I am the tomato, technically a fruit, but not seen as one.  I have come to realize that it is my job to tell my story and let others know the added value an INS brings to the table. 
Nurses trained in informatics support improve patient outcomes through their expertise in information processes, structures, and technologies. We help nurses and other care providers to create and record the evidence of their practice.  There are fundamental informatics competencies that all practicing nurses should possess to meet the standards of providing safe, quality, and competent care. According to the TIGER initiative, informatics competencies that all nurses need to succeed in practice in today’s digital era can be broken down into three parts:

·         Basic computer competency

·         Information literacy

·         Information management

Lesson Learned:  You have to tell your own story and not wait for someone else to figure it out.

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