Has the material in the course changed your professional practice? How might learning about informatics in healthcare influence your professional practice?

Has the material in the course changed your professional practice? How might learning about informatics in healthcare influence your professional practice?

Discussion Question:

Has the material in the course changed your professional practice? How might learning about informatics in healthcare influence your professional practice?

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Informatics and Professional Practice

Informatics and Professional Practice

The healthcare information technology course has significantly impacted my professional development and practice. Interacting with the course material has increased my understanding of informatics and helped me appreciate the role of informatics in healthcare. The course material also enabled me to delve deeper into the different aspects surrounding healthcare informatics, thus broadening my perspective and positively impacting my professional practice.    This discussion describes how the material in this course has impacted my professional practice and how learning about informatics might further influence my professional practice.

First and foremost, my practice has changed by being more confident in information systems. I have understood the differences between clinical and administrative information systems and how each works. Additionally, understanding the distinction has enabled me to use them effectively, thus playing my role in patient care more efficiently. Strudwick et al. (2019) note that as part of informatics competency, nurses should be able to use clinical and administrative information systems effectively. Similarly, interacting with the course material has enabled me to gain informatics competency.

Secondly, I am more vigilant when interacting with healthcare data. I am more careful when accessing, using and uploading healthcare data, especially patient information, to ensure that I maintain the required safety and privacy considerations, enhancing overall patient safety.  It is my responsibility to ensure that data privacy and security safeguards are considered while handling healthcare data, thus enhancing data safety. I now ensure that I have logged out completely after accessing healthcare data in my institution and that other unauthorized persons cannot access the information. Data mining and handling big data have also become much easier after interacting with the course material, thus improving my competency.

Additionally, the course material has enhanced my professional practice by increasing my knowledge of using connected health. According to Egbert et al. (2019), developing nursing informatics competency also aims at preparing the nurse to effectively use connected health since it is a new normal in the digital world. Similarly, interacting with patients is much easier with the use of telehealth, telemedicine and M-health. It has also promoted professional efficiency since I can provide care services to patients more diligently, regardless of whether they are accessing the services remotely or physically.

 Furthermore, learning about informatics will continue influencing my professional practice in several ways. Among them is continuous professional development. The dynamic information technology world also influences constant changes in healthcare technology (Booth et al., 2021). Therefore, nurses are also required to constantly refresh their skills and knowledge to keep up with new trends in healthcare informatics. Updating my informatics skills will enable me to maintain professional development.

Additionally, lessons on informatics policy will enable me to maintain a high standard of professionalism while interacting with patients on healthcare technology and other social media platforms. As a professional nurse, I will also avoid breaching the HIPAA guidelines on social media use since I understand the consequences it can have on the institution and my profession. I will also contribute to developing informatics policy and peer professional development in my practice institution.

Hence, the course material has changed my current professional practice and will continue to influence my professional practice further. The lessons learned in the course have also contributed significantly to developing my professionalism and nursing competencies. Therefore, I will continuously engage in skills development to keep up with the developing healthcare technology and maintain high informatics professionalism in my practice.     

References

Booth, R., Strudwick, G., McMurray, J., Chan, R., Cotton, K., & Cooke, S. (2021). The future of nursing informatics in a digitally-enabled world. Introduction to Nursing Informatics, 395–417. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58740-6_16

Egbert, N., Thye, J., Hackl, W. O., Müller-Staub, M., Ammenwerth, E., & Hübner, U. (2019). Competencies for nursing in a digital world. Methodology, results, and use of the DACH-recommendations for nursing informatics core competency areas in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Informatics for Health and Social Care, 44(4), 351-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/17538157.2018.1497635

 Strudwick, G., Nagle, L., Kassam, I., Pahwa, M., & Sequeira, L. (2019). Informatics competencies for nurse leaders: a scoping review. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(6), 323-330. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000760