Nursing Informatics: Ethical Considerations and Future Trends Explored

This essay provides an overview of nursing informatics, defining it as the integration of nursing science with information management and analytical sciences. It highlights the role of informatics in managing data, information, and knowledge within nursing practices, emphasizing the use of technologies like computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and electronic medical records (EMRs). The essay discusses the three building blocks of nursing communication: data, information, and knowledge, and how these are incorporated into computer programs and software to assist healthcare providers. It also addresses the ethical, legal, and social issues associated with nursing informatics, including patient privacy, data security, patient safety, and potential liabilities arising from improper use or management of information systems. The role of nursing informaticians in advancing healthcare through various positions such as developers, educators, and researchers is also discussed.

Running head: NURSING INFORMATICS
NURSING INFORMATICS
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NURSING INFORMATICS
Informatics can be defined as study of the behavior and the structure of any system that
helps in generating, storing, processing and presenting information. In short, it can be explained
as the science of information. It mainly considers interaction between the information systems
and the users along with construction of the interfaces between the two. Informatics in the
nursing profession can be defined as the specialty that integrates the nursing science with that of
multiple information management and analytical sciences. This would help in identification,
management and communication of data, information and knowledge in the nursing practices.
Technologies that have evolved in the healthcare domains due to nursing informatics
include computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and electronic medical records (EMRs). The
electronic medical records (EMRs) is seen to include progress notes, test results, nursing notes as
well as medication records. Studies have found out three important building blocks that guide the
forms of nursing communications. These are information data, and knowledge.
Data is seen to include direct observations that do not include interpretations. These are
the names of the patients, age, diseases theories as well as vital signs. Information is the data
that needs to be interpreted. The examples can include prevalence of one specific type of
common infection like that of the hospital-acquired infections mainly by the specific types of
care units or keeping records of the percentage of patient care services and even the delays in the
outpatient centers by the specialties. Knowledge can be considered as the amalgam of
information for effective identification that helps in providing further observation to an issue.
The examples mainly include the effect of the nurse patient ratio on the patient outcomes. It
might also include development of the care protocols like that of the pressure ulcers protocols as
well as anaphylactic reaction protocols.

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NURSING INFORMATICS
Nursing professionals incorporate of all the three types of the communication building
blocks in the regular routines. Studies have stated that these three concepts remain stored in the
computer programs and even in various forms of the software for effectively assisting healthcare
providers across the continuum for providing safe and high quality patient care.
Huge important aspects remain associated with the field of informatics in nursing
domain. The individuals called the nursing informaticians can be seen to work as developers of
communications and information technologies as well as educators, chief nursing officers,
researchers, chief information officers, implementation consultants. They are also seen to work
as software engineers, policy developers and even business owners for advancing healthcare.
Some of the main works that are included are the concept representation and the standards for
supporting evidence based practices, education and even researches. It also helps by managing
the data and the communication standards for building an inter-operable national data
infrastructure. It also puts forward research methodologies that help in disseminating new
knowledge into the practices. Information presentation as well as retrieval approaches are also
provided and these help in supporting safe patient centered care. It also helps by providing
proper information and communication technologies for successfully addressing of inter-
professional workflow needs throughout all the care venues. The informatics department helps in
vision and management for effective development, designing as well as implementation of
communication and information technologies.
A number of ethical, legal as well as social issues remain intricately associated with
nursing informatics domain and profession in the present generation. These are seen to include
the concerns of the protection of private and confidential information of the patients. Health
team members should never allow others to use their codes or passwords for gaining entry into

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systems for unauthorized use or for documentation for person assigned codes. Other concerning
areas are effective management of patient safety and proper risk assessments. If patients are not
kept at the main foci of the care services, it will result in a liability rather than being called as the
asset that helps in improvement of the patient care. Moreover, another issue is failure in
entering the information in the system or making an attempt in by-passing them. This will
create issues and barriers in effective communication procedures and systems among healthcare
professionals leading to poor treatment and legal obligations due to negligence of care. Ethical
dilemmas resulting from data availability and sharing, user involvement and accessibility,
research ethics, curriculum development and others might also give rise to serious ethical and
legal concerns.