Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of yo

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by expanding upon their responses or sharing additional or alternative perspectives.
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REFLECTION ON THE VALUE OF NURSING INFORMATICS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR NURSING PRACTICE
The course has opened my eyes to the myriad areas of Nursing Informatics (NI) and the steps that can be applied in project management (PM). Honestly, at the course’s registration and inception, I was unsure of the expectation and many applications of NI in clinical practice. NI is not just about computer literacy but encompasses diverse information communication technology (ICT) and the ethical considerations guiding the use of these technologies. The value of NI and PM for Nursing practice and, especially in the role of Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs), like Executives, Project Managers, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Nurse Practitioners, etc, is priceless. The American Nurses Association (2015) emphasized that the three critical components of NI that are in constant flux are data, information, and knowledge. Sipes (2020) noted that APNs would comprehend and apply the five basic principles of project management as a series of iterative processes and guidelines that can be utilized similarly, like the five steps of the nursing process.
The remarkable advancements in healthcare technology have provided Nursing practice access to more reliable data than ever before, and with NI, nurses can leverage the information and knowledge resulting from these scientific marvels to provide better care and treatment to patients. NI tools will empower nurses to ensure efficient data analysis/ management, enhance interdisciplinary communication, improve patient safety, and offer clinical decision support. The knowledge from project management will be invaluable in conducting quality improvement (QI), risk assessment/management, and enhancing team collaboration skills, as PM involves effective communication, cooperation, and accountability among team members.
Application of NI in professional practice and DNP project
The area that thrilled me most in NI is big data and artificial Intelligence (AI). According to Van Bulck et al. (2022), AI is a game changer transforming our world, people, and systems. The lessons learned from NI can be applied in professional practice and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) projects with diverse significant impacts on patient care, healthcare outcomes, and the nursing practice itself. They can be applied in :
Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS): Nurses can use the knowledge gained from nursing informatics to utilize CDSS tools effectively. These systems offer evidence-based guidelines and alerts to support nurses in making safe and evidence-based decisions at the point of care.
Telehealth and Remote Monitoring: Nursing informatics can enable nurses to use telehealth technologies for remote patient monitoring and virtual consultations. This can improve access to care, especially for patients in rural or underserved areas.
Use of Machine Learning (ML) computational approaches in extracting data, building knowledge, and applying this knowledge to tasks such as risk prediction. Averbuch et al.(2022) mentioned that ML models have played an essential role in bridging the gaps in the care of patients with heart failure and have significant benefits over traditional human-derived models.
The knowledge of NI processes and tools will benefit the DNP project from the planning phase through data collection, analysis, implementation, and dissemination of the outcome. The DNP projects can utilize data analytics and informatics principles to evaluate the effectiveness of healthcare interventions. On the other hand, the DNP project can also address interoperability challenges between different healthcare systems and technologies, ensuring seamless data exchange and communication among healthcare providers.
Two new informatics competencies learned and their application to change in my practice
The list of NI competencies is inexhaustible, but the two that stood out most to me are the ability to gather data, create information/generate knowledge and use ICT tools to support care documentation and communication among providers, patients, and all system levels.
This entails collecting, organizing, and analyzing data to derive meaningful insights and support evidence-based decision-making. This can be used to track patient outcomes, identify healthcare quality and safety trends, and use data to support initiatives that enhance patient care and patient safety. An example is the use of data collected on the 30 days of readmission among heart failure patients to develop care plans to address the prevention.
Using ICT tools to support care documentation and communication among providers/patients will enhance collaboration among healthcare professionals, including IT specialists and administrators. I intend to collaborate with IT experts and administrators to customize systems for nursing needs, such as dual sign-off for skin assessment on admission and transfer into EHR work instead of paper documentation.
NI has much to offer to clinical practice/education, and the DNP student will utilize the knowledge gained to complete the project successfully. The willingness to accept the ever-changing trends in technology and lifelong learning is required to stay relevant amongst other professionals in the healthcare setting.
post 2The Value Of Nursing Informatics And Project Management For Nursing Practice
Nursing informatics is the science and practice of assimilating nursing knowledge and information with technological know-how to manage and integrate health information so that medical services are offered using quality and secure technology that safeguards patient information (Harerimana et al., 2022). Nursing informatics enhances nursing practice, administration, research, and education.
Reflections
This course has challenged my thinking and increased my understanding of what has been achieved and the potential of informatics in the future of nursing. NI has evolved from merely being only data collection and analysis and electronic medical records. Nursing informatics has integrated education and research to enhance scientific exploration, disease surveillance, and many medical innovations that were merely a dream a few years ago. I now understand how NI can help nurses succeed in the complex healthcare environment and how NI tools can improve quality care and patient safety.
Nursing informatics is a multi-disciplinary specialty area that integrates technology, information, communication, and big data. Informatics is complex, and the importance of collaboration between clinicians, IT professionals, data analysts, and other stakeholders in implementing and adopting healthcare information systems was emphasized in the course. Additionally, I learned about tools to assess my informatics competencies and was exposed to resources that can be accessed to broaden my knowledge and skills about healthcare technology.
Furthermore, the course emphasized the importance of balancing technological advancements with ethical considerations in healthcare. Technology can potentially improve healthcare delivery, but it poses ethical challenges such as patient privacy, security, and autonomy. Understanding these ethical issues is critical in ensuring that healthcare informatics and information systems are implemented to respect patients’ rights and dignity.
Finally, the course challenged me to stay up-to-date with rapidly evolving technologies in healthcare informatics. The healthcare informatics field is continuously evolving, with new advancements in machine learning, natural language processing, and big data analytics. Keeping up-to-date with these developments is critical in ensuring that healthcare informatics solutions remain relevant and effective.
Application of knowledge gained to professional practice and in DNP project
The knowledge gained through this course has prepared me to practice as a DNP-prepared nurse in various ways.
Improved Patient-Centered Treatment: Being adept at using the EHR and data analysis will enhance treatment plan adaptations to the requirements of specific patients, providing more individualized and patient-centered care and meeting stipulated standards of healthcare governing bodies such as the Joint Commission.
Appropriate clinical decision-making: Knowledge about data analytics will improve the decision-making process and enhance proactive patient care.
Integration of research and evidence-based practice: Data access will help identify practice gaps better, review and use the best available resources to improve clinical practice, and enhance quality patient care. In a DNP project or dissertation, the principles of nursing informatics could be applied to investigate how technology can improve healthcare delivery. For example, a project could explore the cost-implication of telehealth services over ED visits among patients.
Improve clinical efficiency and effectiveness: Informatics knowledge and skills enhance project management. Therefore, clinical resources can be better managed to reduce waste, delays in care times and hospital stays, and increase cost-effectiveness.
Two newly learned informatics competencies and their application to my practice
Informatics competency has become crucial in fulfilling the professional role of nurses because it has become a vital basis for enhancing patient safety and quality of care. Although the informatics competencies are familiar to me, taking the assessment survey has helped to identify that my informatics knowledge and skills can be improved. Nibbelink et al. (2018) stated that ICU nurses make approximately 238 decisions every 2 hours, and about 98,000 deaths occur yearly from poor clinical decision-making. Nursing informatics solutions represent one vital effort to improve patient outcomes and support nursing practice.
The skill and knowledge of informatics will facilitate the progression of patient data to information and wisdom to improve the patient’s condition by enhancing interdisciplinary communication, collaboration, precision in decision-making, and quality improvement to decrease avoidable medical errors (Nibbelink et al., 2018).
Conclusion
This course taught me how technology contributes to quality healthcare despite its risks and biases. I will continue to build my informatics skills, work collaboratively with other professionals to enhance innovations in my organization, and stay up-to-date with rapidly evolving technologies. These will be invaluable to a thriving advanced practice.