Specialty Nursing Organization
For this assignment, I chose the American Nursing Informatics Association [ANIA] (2016a), which is a national specialty nursing organization as it “links nurses who practice in a particular area” (nursing informatics), creates a “subculture of nurses with common interests” operates in 50 states of the US (Leddy & Pepper, 2013, p. 23).
ANIA (2016a) was established in 1982 under the name of the Capital Area Roundtable on Informatics in Nursing (CARING), which performed the function of a forum for the nurses interested in nursing informatics. In 1992, ANIA (2016a) was created as an organization that would spur nursing informatics research and education. In 2007, the two organizations joined the modern ANIA (2016a).
The main office of the American Nursing Informatics Association [ANIA] (2016b) is currently located within the Commonwealth of Virginia, but it may be moved. There are annual and special meetings that do not presuppose additional payments and that take place at changing locations and time; the members are typically expected to pay initiation and annual dues (the size of which may also change) with the exception of honorary and lifetime members. American Nursing Informatics Association [ANIA] (2016d) used to publish the Nursing Informatics Today journal, but currently, it prepares a new publication, the Journal of Informatics Nursing. Apart from that, ANIA (2016d) has published a position statement “Addressing the Safety of Electronic Health Records” that describes some of the professional standards in the field of nursing informatics. American Nursing Informatics Association (2016e) engages in various educational efforts and offers four scholarships for Master- and Doctoral-level nursing informatics students who perform exceptionally well. American Nursing Informatics Association (2016c) is a partner with various groups (including the Alliance for Nursing Informatics, American Medical Informatics Association, FierceHealthIT, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, and the unSUMMIT™ for Bedside Barcoding) and suggests checking out the opportunities that they offer since the latter are likely to complement those of ANIA.
Of the best features, it can be mentioned that ANIA (2016b) spurs the development of one of the most innovative fields of nursing and that the association is open to any person interested in the topic, which proves that its philosophy of disseminating knowledge is rigorously pursued. As a result, I could become its member, and I think I could benefit from it.
Patient-Centered Care
Patient-centered care (PCC) presupposes the development of healthcare practices that take into account the individual experiences, needs, and expectations of a patient. PCC revolves around several principles that, in view of the Picker Institute, include accessible care, its coordination, and continuity, respect for the patients’ “values, preferences, and expressed needs,” information exchange, “psychical comfort and emotional support,” and the involvement of the family and friends in the care processes (including educational ones) (Potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall, 2013, p. 25). All of these principles help to “customize” healthcare, that is, make it patient-centered.
In my personal practice, I have always tried to follow the principles that form PCC, and it appeared to be a natural thing to do in many cases. I remember working with a 58-year-old woman who was diagnosed with type B diabetes. According to her words, she was not used to taking medications since she had rarely fallen ill in the past, which is why she was very worried about forgetting to take them. We discussed the issue and prepared several interventions, including detailed information on the medications, a checklist for her diary, which she had already been keeping on a semi-regular basis, and the involvement of her daughter as the last resort. As it turned out several weeks later, the checklist helped in developing the habit, which decreased the anxiety. Also, the patient reported that her daughter was very supportive, but it felt better to depend on herself (and the checklist) rather than on another person. To sum up, this case involved respect for the patient’s expressed needs, the involvement of a family member, and information exchange with emotional support to reduce anxiety.
References
American Nursing Informatics Association. (2016a). About Us.
American Nursing Informatics Association. (2016b). Bylaws. Web.
American Nursing Informatics Association. (2016c). Partners. Web.
American Nursing Informatics Association. (2016d). Publications.
American Nursing Informatics Association. (2016e). Scholarships. Web.
Leddy, S. & Pepper, J. (2013). Conceptual bases of professional nursing. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Potter, P., Perry, A., Stockert, P., & Hall, A. (2013). Fundamentals of Nursing. London: Elsevier Health Sciences.