Introduction
Healthcare has been experiencing a considerable change involving applications in providing patient care. The application of information technology in nursing is meant to improve the quality of treatment given to patients and increase the efficiency of the processes involved (Hussey, 2021). It involves several things, such as developing, designing, and implementing the systems to ensure that every activity that is done in nursing is incorporated and implemented using technology, thus making healthcare provision better.
Impact on Stakeholders
Several stakeholders impacted by the nursing informatics project include nurses since they are the primary users of this system and attend to patients. Patients themselves are also stakeholders since they are the people seeking treatment. The patients can significantly benefit from the project since there will be accessible communication with the nurses and doctors, and the patient’s medical records will be digitized safely. The nursing informatics project will also impact hospital management since they ensure the project is successful by providing every needed resource. The project also impacts the people involved in compliance because they ensure the implementation is done according to the law and regulations.
Medical researchers are involved in the project since they must use the information for research. Medical suppliers are also stakeholders because they supply the hardware and software needed for the project to start being developed. Insurance companies are also major stakeholders in the project since they provide healthcare treatment packages and will require the data used in the project to create the health packages (Chakraborty et al.,2019). The Information Technology staff will be involved since they develop, implement and maintain the informatic system. The project may also impact other healthcare institutions depending on whether their services involve the informatics system.
Inefficiencies Being Solved
Most hospitals still use manual methods to keep patients’ health records, and healthcare providers in the past did not use technology extensively in caring for patients. This manual method of keeping or storing medical information causes many issues, such as losing patient records, inconsistencies in the information recorded and incomplete records. It causes many problems when offering care, and the patients cannot be diagnosed well because the medical records are inconsistent due to some records being misplaced or having incorrect information.
Communication may be inefficient when there is no proper channel for healthcare providers to use, and this will cause a delay in relaying the information that the caregivers need. New nurses may not be well adverse in the operations of healthcare institutions; therefore, they may not know how to address any issues that the patients may encounter because of not being aware of the protocols in the communication channel. It may lead to significant problems since communication between the patient and the nurse and other healthcare providers such as doctors and specialists is essential since it creates a flow when treating the patient.
Another inefficiency may also arise in administering the drugs to patients who have already been treated and prescribed medicines. Care providers who administer patient medications must be well-equipped to manage the patient’s records to avoid mix-ups while giving the drugs to the patients. Many patients usually take the wrong drugs, and before they know the mistake, they have wasted money, and in other cases, death occurs since the illness is not treated with the correct medication.
How the Improvement Will Occur
Nursing Informatics will address the communication issues since the nurses will have gadgets such as tablets that they will use to access the patient’s medical history. According to Kotecha et al. (2018), video conferencing is a tool they may use to communicate with other medical providers in case they need to since it makes it possible to talk to other medical experts in different locations. Moreover, using electronic health records has made it possible for nurses to access any information about the patient. By using electronic health records, nurses can key in the patient’s details, including the patient’s history, and they can access this information whenever they need to with ease and speed.
Eliminating the problem of overtreating patients will significantly impact positive progress in healthcare provision. In delivering care to patients’ caregivers may sometimes overdo it by providing services that a patient may not need at that moment; hence this can be viewed as overtreatment. Such problems usually arise when healthcare providers need to observe the best practices stipulated to them. Overtreatment results in very expensive medical care and medications and can sometimes cause harmful repercussions to the patients involved; thus, combating this issue will ensure patients get affordable hospital bills, safe diagnoses, and better hospital experiences.
Improving how healthcare providers communicate and coordinate when treating patients is critical to developing the attitudes of patients in response to the treatment being offered. Patients undergoing long-term treatments may have to interact with different doctors, nurses, and other specialists. Therefore, coordination among them will ensure the patient can get a safe treatment process without experiencing hiccups such as misdiagnosis. In case of any issues, the hospitals may face penalties and even be sued in case of severe negligence; therefore, by ensuring excellent coordination and communication, the hospitals can avoid such expenses.
Healthcare provision can sometimes become very costly to the patient and may hinder the patient from getting well, which is not the expected outcome. Prescriptions are usually very costly, and patients who cannot afford the drugs needed may encounter serious health problems due to delayed treatment. Pharmaceutical companies conduct very long research on the drugs before manufacturing, and the research is usually lengthy and very costly; hence, it trickles down to the patient in terms of increased prices of the medications. Solving the cost problem and the expensive research costs using better drug analysis methods will shorten the time to identify treatments and discard harmful drugs.
My project will use technology extensively to improve coordination between patients and healthcare providers. Incorporating new technologies such as telemedicine and digitizing the patients’ health records will provide a strong connection between the patient and the healthcare providers (Aceto et al., 2018). This connection develops because the information will be shared concerning any medical and health changes the patient will experience. It will also involve creating a care plan involving the patient and other health providers. The patient will also be able to access medical records and communicate with the healthcare providers, thus creating patient-to-doctor engagements.
Technologies Required for The Project and Why
The nursing informatics project involves several technologies to efficiently manage, record and access the patient’s health information. According to Bahl et al. (2020), implementing Electronic Health Records (EHR) is essential since it has several advantages which the patients will experience, the nurses and other medical staff. The health care providers can be able to key in the patient’s name and other details needed; EHR also enables any health provider, be it the nurse, doctor or specialist, to be able to look for and find the patients’ history without having to ask the patient every time they visit.
Another technology that can be used is the use of tablets which enable health providers to access any information regarding the patient instantly since tablets are portable. The nurse can be able to attend to the patient in a short period quickly, and this will also ensure that the patients are kept for only a short time when waiting to be attended to by the nurse. Therefore, this will positively impact the patient because it is difficult for them to wait for long hours for consultation while they are in critical condition or experiencing pain.
Telemedicine can improve a patient’s health since doctors and nurses can attend to a patient remotely without the patient visiting the health institution. The healthcare providers can interact with the patient using video or chat even if they are at home. They can monitor any changes in the patient’s health by keeping track of any changes using the gadgets provided. Patients with access to video calls can also show physical parts of the body for consultations or even take pictures and send them to the doctors.
Project Team By Roles
In implementing a nursing informatics system, several people are involved who are given the task and responsible for ensuring the implementation process is successful and runs smoothly. The project manager is tasked with overseeing the entire nursing informatics project, and they ensure that the project meets its deadline, that the budget is not exceeded, and that the project is of good quality. The nurse ensures the project is within the organization’s vision and contains what is required, the information and communication staff are also involved in implementing the project, and they ensure that it meets the requirements for it to be useful and impactful (Khezri & Abdekhoda, 2019). The nurse informaticist is also part of the project since they are responsible for applying the knowledge needed for the project to meet the industry standards of nursing.
Conclusion
Technology has enhanced better medical care for patients because it is easy to access medical care or medical aid without going to the hospital or clinic. The nursing informatics project will ensure that providing healthcare is done in a well-organized manner to ensure that patients can be attended to and treated professionally. It enables the provision of healthcare to be successful, and therefore, patients can attain the health they need for a quality life without suffering.
References
Aceto, G., Persico, V., & Pescapé, A. (2018). The role of information and communication technologies in healthcare: taxonomies, perspectives, and challenges. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 107, 125–154.
Bahl, S., Singh, R. P., Javaid, M., Khan, I. H., Vaishya, R., & Suman, R. (2020). Telemedicine technologies for confronting COVID-19 pandemic: A review. Journal of Industrial Integration and Management, 05(04), 547–561. Web.
Chakraborty, S., Aich, S., & Kim, H.-C. (2019). A secure healthcare system design framework using blockchain technology. 2019 21st International Conference on Advanced Communication Technology (ICACT), 260–264. IEEE.
Hussey, P. (2021). Introduction to nursing informatics. Health Informatics, 1–13. Web.
Khezri, H., & Abdekhoda, M. (2019). Assessing nurses’ informatics competency and identifying its related factors. Journal of Research in Nursing, 24(7), 529–538. Web.
Kotecha, D., Chua, W. W. L., Fabritz, L., Hendriks, J., Casadei, B., Schotten, U., Vardas, P., Heidbuchel, H., Dean, V., Kirchhof, P., & European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Atrial Fibrillation Guidelines Taskforce, the CATCH ME consortium and the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). (2018). European Society of Cardiology smartphone and tablet applications for patients with atrial fibrillation and their health care providers. Europace: European Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Electrophysiology: Journal of the Working Groups on Cardiac Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology, 20(2), 225–233. Web.