Nurses at the baccalaureate level in all practice areas are involved in nursing informatics through interaction with information management and patient care technologies. Nurses must not only demonstrate knowledge of and skills in health information and patient care technologies, but also how to use these tools at the bedside and organizational levels. Moreover, nurses need to recognize how information gathered from various health information sources can impact decision making at the national and state regulatory levels.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Describe nurses’ and the interdisciplinary team’s role in informatics with a focus on electronic health information and patient care technology to support decision making.
  • Define nursing informatics and the role of the nurse informaticist.
  • Explain how the nurse collaborates with the interdisciplinary team, including technologists, to improve the quality of patient care.
  • Justify the need for a nurse informaticist in a health care organization.
• Competency 2: Implement evidence-based strategies to effectively manage protected health information.
  • Explain evidence-based strategies that the nurse and interdisciplinary team can use to effectively manage patients’ protected health information (privacy, security, and confidentiality).
• Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication to facilitate use of health information and patient care technologies.
  • Follow APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.
  • Create a clear, well-organized, and professional proposal that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Scenario

For this assessment, assume you are a nurse attending a meeting of your state’s nurses’ association. A nurse informaticist conducted a presentation on her role and its impact on positive patient and organizational outcomes in her workplace. You realize that your organization is undergoing many technological changes. You believe this type of role could provide many benefits to your organization.

You decide to pursue proposing a nurse informaticist role in your organization. You speak to your chief nursing officer (CNO) and human resources (HR) manager. These individuals ask you to prepare a 4–5 page evidence-based proposal to support the new role. In this way, they can make an informed decision as to whether the addition of such a role could justify the return on investment (ROI).  They need your proposal before an upcoming fiscal meeting.

Preparation

To successfully prepare for this assessment, you will need to complete these preparatory activities:

• Conduct independent research on the nursing knowledge and skills necessary to interact with health information and patient care technology.
  • Focus your research on current resources available through peer-reviewed articles, professional websites, government websites, professional blogs, wiki pages, job boards, et cetera.
  • Consult the BSN Program Library Research Guide for help in identifying scholarly and authoritative sources.
• Interview peers in your network who are considered information technology experts.
  • Ask them about how information technology advances are impacting patient care at the bedside, at the organizational level, and beyond.

Proposal Format

The CNO and HR manager have asked you to include the following headings in your proposal and to be sure to address the bullets underneath each heading:

Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist

• What is nursing informatics?
• What is the role of the nurse informaticist?

Nurse Informaticists and Other Health Care Organizations

• What is the experience of other health care organizations with nurse informaticists?
• How do these nurse informaticists interact with the rest of the nursing staff and the interdisciplinary team?

Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology

• How does fully engaging nurses in health care technology impact:
  • Patient care?
  • Protected health information (security, privacy, and confidentiality)?
  • Workflow?
  • Costs and return on investment?

Opportunities and Challenges

• What are the opportunities and challenges for nurses and the interdisciplinary team with the addition of a nurse informaticist role?
  • How can the interdisciplinary team collaborate to improve quality care outcomes through technology?

Summary of Recommendations

• What are 3-4 key takeaways from your proposal about the recommended nurse informaticist role that you want the CNO and the HR manager to remember?