Nursing Issues - Benefits, Challenges, and Implications of Nursing Informatics

This article explores the field of nursing informatics, which combines nursing with information management sciences to support patients, nurses, and other stakeholders. It discusses the background, definition, and scope of nursing informatics, as well as the benefits and challenges associated with it. The article also examines the impact and implications of nursing informatics on patient care and nursing practice, and offers recommendations for the future of the field.

Running Head: NURSING ISSUES 1
Nursing Issues
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Nursing Issues
Nursing Informatics (NI) is generally a field that incorporates the science of nursing with
various analytical and information management sciences in an attempt to define, identify,
manage, and disseminate knowledge and information in the nursing practice. In essence, NI is
tailored to offer support to multiple groups of people including the consumers, nurses, patients,
and other stakeholders as they make decisions to get the desired results (McGonigle, Hunter,
Sipes & Hebda, 2014). This support is ideally achieved via multiple channels including
information technology, information processes, and information structures. All in all, the prime
objective of nursing informatics is to ensure that patients are guaranteed safety and quality care
through evaluation and enactment of electronic healthcare data (Choi & De Martinis, 2013;
McCormick & Saba, 2015). The collaboration between technology and nursing disciplines has
created new avenues for patient care, ensuring that the healthcare processes such as clinical
documentation and patient results move in a streamlined fashion (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015).
Such processes not only come in handy in assisting the healthcare professionals but also enhance
the quality of patient care and ultimately more lives are saved. With that said, this means that the
implications and benefits of nursing informatics cannot be underestimated.
Background, Definition, and Scope
Nursing Informatics can be viewed as a rapidly growing and somewhat new field. The
term Nursing Informatics was first proposed in 1976 when Scholes and Barber gave a detailed
elucidation of the potentialities of computer technology in nursing and how this can enhance
research, education, and service delivery in nursing (Scholes & Barber, 1976). Accordingly, over
the years, the term has changed its meaning, role, competencies, and education. Also notable is
that the term has had worthwhile implications for the career paths of various medical

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professionals. As a result of its uniqueness, nursing informatics has brought about a multitude of
challenges that need to be solved. Conversely, some schools of thoughts have proposed that these
challenges should be seen as a stepping stone to new opportunities (Carrington & Tiase, 2013).
Notwithstanding, this field has over the years recorded tremendous growth, primarily due to the
combined efforts of organizations, practitioners, and scholars (Hunter, McGonigle & Hebda,
2013). Just like the rest of the world, the nursing profession in Canada has been impacted by the
quick growth of nursing informatics in a multitude of ways. The Canadian Nursing Informatics
Association (CNIA) is mandated to assist nurses throughout all the regions of Canada study,
research, and develop projects related to informatics so that they can grow their skills and
knowledge on informatics and practice the same on a national platform. The mission of this
organization revolves around spreading awareness about health informatics across Canada.
Canada has its own history of nursing informatics. This policy statement was formulated
by the CNA in an attempt to stress the essence of creating the nursing data constituents which
will eventually be integrated into the country’s national health information system. Besides that,
the CNA has in recent times fronted a project dubbed the National Nursing Informatics Project
tailored to create a national accord on competencies, definition, and educational priorities and
initiatives. As mentioned earlier, the application of technology in nursing dates many years ago,
and nurses have over the years attained great proficiency in incorporating complex technologies
and innovations into the nursing field for the past couple of decades. Categorically, the use of
technology in nursing can be traced back to the United Kingdom in the years of Florence
Nightingale, or even earlier in Canada when the first hospital was launched in Montreal by
Jeanne Mance in 1642. During these early years, precisely in the critical and intense care units,
psychological monitors, ventilators, and other types of machineries were applied. In modern

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times, however, these machineries are mostly used in home care and less acute settings. Over the
past couple of decades, nursing has undergone tremendous evolution, and most of these changes
have been witnessed as a result of great strides evident in information and communication
technology (ICT) (McGonigle et al., 2014). In nearly all the societal aspects including
healthcare, ICT has had a profound implication. Considering healthcare providers are largely
constituted of nurses, it follows that the nurses should be well-versed with the application of ICT
and other related technologies. Due to this realization, the growth of nursing informatics has seen
steady growth.
Benefits and Challenges
Nursing Informatics has over the years been associated with a myriad of challenges as
well as benefits. Nevertheless, it continues to evolve with each passing day. This evolution has
been marked with unique patterns and rates across the globe. The challenges associated with
nursing informatics might as well be attributed to the background of nurses and all the involved
stakeholders (Sensmeier, 2015). It is also argued that due to its unique nature, nursing
informatics is responsible for most of the challenges it continues to face. However, some schools
of thought posit that these challenges could be turned into benefits in favour of nursing
informatics. Some of the notable challenges associated with nursing informatics, according to
Baker (2012), include information accessibility, information security vs. freedom of use, and loss
of privacy. The process of designing and executing information systems in nursing which are
capable of enhancing the general wellbeing of the patient and, concurrently, view the outcomes
of patients is one of the major challenges facing nursing informatics. Additionally, there are six
basic aspects that pose implications to nursing when the implementation of a computerized
process is underway. These factors include effective leadership, well-defined timeframe, good

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training, good software, effective communication, and a well-defined process of change (Nagle
et al., 2014). Another eminent challenge facing nursing informatics is the low number of staff in
the field. With regards to education, there are still a series of challenges plaguing the integration
of courses on informatics into the nursing school curriculum. Also, the faculties seem not to be
adequately prepared to offer these courses, which is yet another obstacle hindering the full
implementation and realization of nursing informatics (Darvish, Bahramnezhad, Keyhanian &
Navidhamidi, 2014). Other challenges have mainly revolved around defining and incorporating
the field of nursing informatics into the nursing practice, including defining the competencies of
nursing informatics that every nurse should possess (Hübner et al., 2016). Within the field of
nursing informatics, there still exist various roles that require unique competencies. Another
prime challenge entails defining nursing informatics frameworks in a healthcare institution
which are needed in the support of care for both the nurses and patients, and eventually the
manner in which nursing informatics should be integrated as a component of the nursing practice
model.
On the other hand, there are still multiple opportunities and benefits associated with
nursing informatics. The recent years have seen tremendous strides being made with regards to
information technology implementation in healthcare institutions. One of the profound benefits is
that nursing informatics has received overwhelming support all over the world. In Canada, for
instance, the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association (CNIA) is concerned with sensitization
efforts about nursing informatics. Other organizations concerned with the same endeavours
include the International Medical Informatics Association Nursing Informatics Special Interest
Group (AMIANI), the American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA), and the Alliance for
Nursing Informatics (ANI) (Asiri, 2016). The support offered by these organizations is one of the

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most significant advantages that could come in handy in shaping and injecting some sense of
professionalism into the nursing informatics discipline. Besides that, various policies and
initiatives also play the same role in supporting the integration and implementation of nursing
informatics. Some of these policies and initiatives evident across the world include the Quality
and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform
(TIGER), among others.
Impact and Implications
Hospitals and health systems are continually implementing information systems, which
could pose a multitude of implications for the delivery of patient care. The awakening of
technology presents opportunities for nurse informaticists to assume the role of closing the gap
between patient care and information technology in an attempt to digitize healthcare (Gonen,
Sharon, Offir & Lev-Ari, 2014). Yahoo Education recently ranked Nursing Informatics as one
of the 10 great careers that are often unknown. Evidently, quality care and patient safety are
some of the aspects that can be greatly improved through computer-assisted tools. The prime
objective is to transform data into information which can, in turn, be used to create knowledge. It
is estimated that the health information technology field needs more professionals so that a
paperless system can eventually be achieved. In this regard, the onset of nursing informatics has
seen the need for more nurses to get educated in this field (Lin, Hsu, & Yang, 2014; Rojas &
Seckman, 2014). According to current research, it is expected that the application of healthcare
information technology will undergo an upward spiral and, as a result, all the stakeholders in the
healthcare sector should create initiatives and strategies that will enable them to manage the
changes (O'Connor & Andrews, 2015). Although nursing schools are slowly adopting nursing
informatics into their curricula, this is being done at a slow pace due to the various challenges

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encountered. Nursing informatics has ideally created the need for nursing schools to equip their
students with the necessary knowledge and skill sets. Those nurses who are well equipped with
technological skills and knowledge can now make logical and sound judgements and decisions
on the basis of current evidence as opposed to general opinions. Notwithstanding, there are still
cases wherein poor and inconsistent integration of knowledge on informatics exists. There is
generally lack of an accord detailing the manner in which informatics should be integrated into
the curriculum (Cummings, Shin, Mather & Hovenga, 2016). This is largely due to the fact that
millennials, who also happen to the major consumers of higher education, are overly skilled at
using technology as compared to the faculty. According to some schools of thought, this is
merely a notion as the modern nursing programs are characterized by a blend of non-traditional
and traditional learners with varying capabilities with respect to technological skills (Westra et
al., 2015). Besides that, having some technological know-how does not particularly mean that a
person is equipped with information technology or informatics skills.
Another way in which nursing informatics has profoundly impacted the nursing
profession is the less documentation evident in the healthcare settings today. Unlike in the old
days when nurses ideally used paper charts or notepads to store information, modern nurses often
feed notes into innovative systems such as electronic health records (Yang et al., 2014). Through
these systems, the medical history of a patient can be easily updated and accessed when needed
(Button, Harrington & Belan, 2014). It has over the years been reported that due to electronic
charting, the modern nurses can access information about patients in the most efficient and
seamless fashion and, in turn, apply the information to improve the wellbeing of patients
(Schwirian, 2013). When information is stored through an electronic method, all the care team
members can easily access it. As modern people become more mobile, it becomes

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overwhelmingly essential for them to travel with their personal medical records wherever they
wish during their lifetime. Nursing informatics has also been a key driver of coordination of care
in the nursing field. Equipped with the ability to monitor communication and workflow, nurses
can easily identify the areas that need improvement, which can ensure the maintenance of
adequacy with respect to levels of staffing (Fujino & Kawamoto, 2013). This could come in
handy in ensuring that patients receive the best possible care. Adverse outcomes will be
experienced in the event that there is a severe drop in the nurse-to-patient ratio. Besides that, one
of the long-standing and essential components of nursing is evidence-based practices (Knight &
Shea, 2014). In the modern world, nursing informatics comes in handy in defining these best
practices. Through an examination of the massive data quantities concerning the care and
outcomes of patients, nurses are in a better position to determine how they will handle and treat
such situations and conditions in the current times and even in the future.
Recommendations
Nursing informatics is certainly among the new fields in the nursing profession. It can be
viewed as a unique subspecialty of health informatics. Due to its unique nature, it has
significantly evolved in different aspects with respect to its history, definition, competencies, and
education. However, as a result of the collaboration of various organizations and scholars,
nursing informatics continues to expand at an exponential rate worldwide (Kowitlawakul et al.,
2015). Faced with the continuously evolving healthcare landscape, there will be need to
adequately prepare nurse students so that they can confidently face complexities synonymous
with the modern working environment (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). As a result of the current wide
use of information systems and computers in healthcare, nurses will need to equip themselves
with knowledge on technology so that they can effectively handle patients. Looking at the global

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reach of nursing informatics, however, only some countries have actually recorded worthwhile
strides with respect to advancement and reach of nursing informatics. Notably, other regions and
countries have achieved little or no success with respect to the same. In this regard, there needs
to be an evident creation and definition of knowledge related to nursing informatics considering
that nurses are the largest group of healthcare professionals.
Moreover, the nurses are overwhelmingly using technology in their various roles
including practice, research, and education. Indeed, there will need to be more research
conducted so as to develop some key embodiments of nursing informatics professionals such as
job description, competencies, and education (Brennan & Bakken, 2015). To achieve this, there
is a need to create an international body that oversees and regulates all activities concerning
nursing informatics. Through such a body, there can also be a good avenue through which the
involved parties can utilize lessons from the past and perhaps take some beneficial notes from
the various valuable actions and experiences of pioneers in this field. From a clinical perspective,
nurse roles in all the nursing informatics implementation stages should be well defined so that a
good number of nurses can be compelled to participate in the whole process (Chung & Staggers,
2014). To facilitate the implementation process even further, all the materials and resources that
the nurses might need should be availed (Button, Harrington & Belan, 2014). In order to achieve
these outcomes, additional research will be required to establish the core skills and knowledge
that needs to be integrated into training and education of nurses in the future. Once these skills
are integrated into the curricula of nursing schools, the implementation of nursing informatics
will be easier (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). Besides that, the emergence of telemedicine, telenursing,
telehealth, and other concepts in the healthcare setting calls for more research to examine these

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concepts and establish the implications of the same in clinical practice, patient care, and
education (Vernic, 2012).
Conclusion
In summary, this paper discusses the topic of nursing informatics along with the multiple
evolutions it has undergone with respect to its definition, history, and competencies. Over the
years, the meaning of nursing informatics has changed. At the same time, nursing informatics
continues to face a series of challenges, most of which can be viewed as a stepping stone for
future opportunities. Some of the often identified challenges include information accessibility,
information security vs. freedom of use, and loss of privacy. Despite these challenges, however,
nursing informatics continues to receive support from diverse organizations spread out across the
world. The general implications of nursing informatics include improved access to patient
information, which eventually enhances the quality of care dispensed to patients. There still
needs to be a more convincing and effective integration of nursing informatics competencies into
the curricula of nursing schools.

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