NURS 6431 Week 7 Journal Entries

Journal Entries Due Week 7 (References immediately follow the content)

From Week 7:

Journal Assignment—Part 1

After reviewing the Practicum Weekly Resources, record responses to the following in your Journal:

What role does the nurse informaticist have in identifying and exploiting the use of disruptive technologies?

What strategies will you employ for keeping current with the latest trends and technologies in health information technology?

Journal Assignment—Part 2

Note: Each week, you are responsible for locating a scholarly journal article in the Walden Library related to your area(s) of interest. Include in your Journal the reference in proper APA format, and provide a brief summary of the article. The article from each week will serve as the genesis of the bibliography in your final Practicum course (NURS 6600), so time spent locating pertinent articles now will be beneficial.

Journal Assignment—Part 3

Practicum Onsite Visits

Summarize the key activities of your visits to your Practicum site (as appropriate), including with whom you met, what you did, and what you gained from the experience.

After completing this Journal Assignment, compile the Weeks 4–7 Journals (Parts 1–3) and the updated Time Log into a single document for submission by Day 7 of this week.

Week 7 Journal Assignment—Part 1:

The article I chose is about telehealth as a disruptive technology. A disruptive technology replaces and old way of doing something in a more efficient and cost-effective way (Schwamm, 2014). Schwamm (2014) discusses the many benefits of telehealth in that it can help increase access to healthcare and decrease costs. The nurse informaticist (NI) can play a pivotal role in ensuring the appropriate technologies are implemented in order to achieve the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) six characteristics of quality healthcare: safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable (Schwamm, 2014). The NI who keeps current on the latest technologies can speak to the benefits that these technologies would bring to an institution and its patients. He or she is the bridge between the patient, the clinician, and the technology. They are uniquely poised to use their experience at the bedside providing direct patient care and being a voice for that patient, and their clinical expertise and understanding of clinical workflows to offer their expert perspective. It is important that any healthcare provider keep current on their particular specialty. As a NI, I plan to be active or at least a member of several professional organizations such as ANIA, AMIA, and HIMSS. Networking with other NI’s will also contribute to keeping up with current technology and how other organizations are implementing them.

Schwamm, L. H. (2014). Telehealth: seven strategies to successfully implement disruptive technology and transform health care. Health Affairs, 33(2), 200-206.

Week 7 Journal Assignment—Part 2 (Practicum Journal Article Summary):

Superusers can be an extremely useful resource for nurse informaticists. Their role can go well beyond the well-known at-the -elbow support for an EHR implementation. Taylor (2019) describes the many roles a superuser can take on and the role of the nurse informaticist plays in their support. Superusers are like the first line of defense when it comes to implementing new technology. They are the front-line change agents who can help promote change among their peers. Superusers can assist with evaluating usability, providing workflow gap analysis, testing of new systems, validating build, and assistance with optimization among other things (Taylor, 2019). Nurse informaticists have an important role in acquiring and mentoring superusers, facilitating or supporting meetings, and being a role model and team motivator (Taylor, 2019). One thing the article did not mention is that the nurse informaticist also represents the field of nursing informatics and can hopefully draw interest into the field based on their influence.

Taylor, D., (2019). A day in the life of a nurse informaticist: Superusers. Journal of Nursing Informatics. 4(1), 18-20.

Week 7 Journal Assignment—Part 3 (Practicum Onsite Visits):

I spent a full day in the clinical command center for the first day of the EHR upgrade go-live. There was an air of anticipation and excitability as you walked in the room. The clinical command center consisted of nurse informaticists, IS trainers, and the CNIO. The day was very structured with regular calls for technical briefings and change calls. The nurse informaticists seemed to run the show in that all incidents were communicated to them and they had a say in how things would be handled. The day started off with a chart reconciliation period that followed an overnight downtime period of about eight hours. As the reconciliation came to an end, each unit would call in and report they were complete. It was interesting to see how incidents called in and triaged as major incidents, affecting more than five end users, or minor incidents. Also, the service desk keeps careful records of the number and types of help tickets called in. This seems to determine the overall progress of the implementation.

I felt like a had a good opportunity to network with the CNIO, nurse informatics manager, and some of the nurse informaticists. I feel lucky that I was able to witness and be part of a large hospital-wide go live and learned a lot about the organizations change management process and HIT infrastructure.