Abstract
The development of innovative technological solutions and the active promotion of digitalization in every aspect of people’s lives have also affected nursing substantially. Namely, the creation of nursing informatics as a separate field that has helped in improving the efficacy and quality of care has served an instrumental function in increasing the efficacy of communication and collaboration between nurses. As a result, the issues linked to information management have been gaining exponential significance in the nursing context leading to the creation of the EHR and the development of respective policies across the healthcare system. The enactment of the ACA 2010 regulation that has encouraged the integration of the EHR framework into the nursing context can be seen as the inciting factor in the popularization of nursing informatics in healthcare. Currently, innovative software is being developed to advance nursing quality and amplify the efforts made by organizations across the industry. However, the described change will also require the involvement of nurses in policy development, as well as an increased focus on interdisciplinary collaboration within the nursing field.
A search engine for a nursing research assignment. Its features and why it is appropriate for research
Locating high-quality articles on nursing and the related issues is virtually impossible without using a search engine specifically designed to browse across a repository of nursing research. Therefore, instead of using basic search engines, the ones geared specifically toward seeking out nursing papers are critical. To locate highly trustworthy and credible nursing papers, one may want to consider the Cochrane Library database. The specified search engine links the search to a vast array of databases, offering both free articles and those with paid access. In addition, the Cochrane Library engine provides multiple options for tailoring one’s search process based on a range of criteria, such as the publication date, the topic, the language, and the research type. In addition, a few even lesser-known yet very effective tools for narrowing down the search, such as the status (new search/conclusions changed) and type (such as an intervention) are included.
The Cochrane Library database is appropriate for this search since it allows finding the latest studies on a variety of issues, as well as exploring the problem in greater depth by considering articles from different perspectives. Cochrane Library offers an extensive selection of studies on the topic of interest, namely, the papers by Wen et al. (2017) and Kokkvoll et al. (2020), who offer important insights into the issue. Overall, the database gives a plethora of options for compiling a comprehensive list of articles for further review.
An area in a nursing practice in which informatics is used in patient care. Advantages and disadvantages of using informatics in this scenario
As a rule, informatics is used in every area of nursing to address staffing issues and assign roles and responsibilities to nurses effectively, while transferring patient data carefully, especially during handovers. However, in some areas of nursing, informatics bears particularly significant functions, such as integrating nursing strategies with the opportunities that computer science provides for data management in pediatric nursing. In this context, data can be communicated through technology, which is very useful in the contexts such as patient handover.
The incorporation of nursing informatics into pediatric care will allow reducing the amount of time that is usually taken to transfer the data otherwise. As a result, nurses can utilize their spare time to deliver appropriate nursing services faster and introduce critical interventions more effectively. The described change is instrumental in pediatric care, where the timeliness of the response toward a change in a patient’s health is especially crucial given the vulnerabilities of children. Therefore, time management issues should be treated as an important advantage of including nursing informatics in the management of pediatric care. It provides a [powerful tool in transferring data fast and avoiding the roadblocks on the way to delivering information and the corresponding services fast.
Unfortunately, the introduction of nursing informatics into the context of pediatric care also implies overcoming several disadvantages, one of which is linked directly to the development of nurse-patient communication. Since the pediatric nursing setting suggests that a significant amount of nurse-patient communication occurs with parents serving as mediators between a nurse and a patient, the efficacy of care may drop significantly. Without proper skills of utilizing respective tools for transferring patient data, controlling changes in a child, and reporting them to a nurse, parents will be unable to provide essential feedback, which is instrumental in addressing health concerns in outpatient settings. Likewise, in the hospital environment, retrieving data from a patient may be fraught with challenges due to their age and related limitations.
A computer application that can be used to guide evidence-based practice in nursing
Apart from serving as the tool for transferring data directly between nurses and patients, innovative technology and, particularly, computer applications, can be used to encourage evidence-based practice in nursing. Computer applications allow introducing the element of automation into the process of data management, thus making the process of detecting health issues in the target population faster. In this regard, one should mention the CDSS computer application as the tool that improves the quality of nursing practice substantially, providing additional opportunities for implementing evidence-based practice. The specified software introduces a system of knowledge sharing into the nursing context, improving the transfer of data and reducing the probability of losing an important piece of information along the way (Honaker et al., 2019). In its essence, the CDSS framework provides nurses with multiple options for receiving support in the course of clinical decision-making.
The introduction of CDSS has had impressive effects on the management of key nursing tasks and improving the efficacy of clinical care due to the focus on multidisciplinary work that it provides. Namely, the application contributes to data sharing and collaboration for making decisions and the relevant choices when administering corresponding nursing services to the target demographic (Hinderer et al., 2017). As a result, the solutions located by nursing experts embrace a large variety of factors that would have been overlooked otherwise (Honaker et al., 2019). The resulting connection between the observations, the existing knowledge system, and the effects produced by the administered interventions inform the further care and treatment choices, therefore, allowing nurses to incorporate multiple data pieces into the development of clinical advice.
Remarkably, the current division between the knowledge-based and non-knowledge-based CDSS frameworks also contributes to the effective management of patients’ needs in the nursing setting. Whereas the former is used for diagnosis and direct decision-making, the latter is deployed to encourage machine learning and, thus, develop even more intricate software for promoting the management of patients’ needs (Hinderer et al., 2017). Therefore, the CDSS framework should be treated as an important part of the clinical software inventory that can be utilized to improve the efficiency of care delivery.
How computer technology can be used to promote interdisciplinary communication among healthcare providers
As emphasized above, the focus on interdisciplinary collaboration has been the priority in the nursing industry for a significant period. The focus on cooperation between experts in different areas of healthcare and nursing amplifies the range of opportunities for diagnosing a health issue correctly, determining the correct treatment, and administering it to a patient properly. In turn, innovative technology can assist in the specified task to a substantial degree. For example, the application of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) tools will encourage communication between experts belonging to different fields, as well as a variety of areas of nursing (Bush t al., 2018). As a result, defining the exact nature of a specific health issue will become possible, and treatment strategies are bound to become more effective.
The inclusion of EHR into the healthcare system will lead to an increase in accessibility to patient data. The described change is instrumental in effective interdisciplinary communication since nurses will not have to spend a large portion of their time sharing clinical details of patients’ records and worrying that a specific fact may be accidentally omitted during the information transfer. The creation of an EHR-based framework within a healthcare facility allows for a smooth transfer of data, thus making communication between providers more effective.
Moreover, the inclusion of EHR into the healthcare context has helped to integrate every single fact into the analysis of a patient’s current condition, thus defining the factors that may have caused specific changes in the patient’s health status. As a result, nurses can perform a comprehensive assessment of a patient. Thus, a more detailed and nuanced discussion of a patient’s condition, further treatment options, and methods of administering the said treatment will be available. Overall, the creation of the EHR framework has contributed massively to the increase in interdisciplinary collaboration between nurses.
How the Affordable Care Act (2010), and subsequent policy changes have contributed to the role of nursing informatics
The promotion of nursing informatics as an essential change to the nursing system would have been impossible without the Affordable Care Act, which became a landmark regulation introducing additional options for improving care accessibility. According to the main premise of the ACA, the opportunities for health insurance have become more open to American citizens, thus leading to a significant improvement in the health management options for the U.S. population. Additionally, the overall focus on the improvement of performance across the entire healthcare system of the U.S. was seen as the main premise of the ACA (Mercer et al., 2018). Overall, the ACA regulation served as a strong impetus for significant alterations across the American healthcare environment.
As a result, the policy changes that the ACA has entailed have defined the leading role of nursing informatics in the environment of present-day nursing. Due to the emphasis on continuous care improvement and the integration of innovative solutions into it, the need for including nursing informatics into the healthcare system became obvious quite soon (Konchak et al., 2016). Therefore, the ACA has served the function of the main driver behind the enhancement of nursing informatics role in contemporary nursing. Moreover, the ACA has defined the need to introduce homogeneity into the U.S. healthcare and nursing context, which implies the need for the EHR system to be incorporated into the data management framework of every hospital. Offering a chance to structure information transfer and promote knowledge sharing across the entirety of the U.S. healthcare system, the EHR software represents the embodiment of the ACA 2010 principles in the contemporary healthcare and nursing setting. Therefore, the role that the ACA 2010 has played in the advancement of nursing informatics in the target setting is immeasurable.
References
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