How Has Nursing Informatics and Technology Impacted Your Practice?

The unprecedented global spread of COVID-19 since late 2019 took the world by
surprise, and it crippled even the world’s mightiest economies and paralyzed healthcare systems.
However, governments moved quickly to implement multiple informatics or health information
technologies to combat the virus’s spread and improve service delivery. As an emergency
department RN working in a community hospital, I believe telemedicine or telehealth is one of
the few health IT that changed the game at the height of the pandemic. Telemedicine reduced
overcrowding in the facility and patient contact, reducing significantly the virus’ transmission
and cost of care (Ye, Zhou, & Wu, 2021).
Integrating and installing technology is not one of the most significant issues; it takes
proper use of informatics competencies to achieve safety improvements and quality care.
Established informatics competencies – interpersonal skills, programming knowledge, problem-
solving skills, communication skills, health data systems skills, data analytics skills, and the
healthcare sector knowledge – can assist health informaticists and clinicians achieve safety and
quality of care (Morawski, n.d.). Since the pandemic, applying these skills has ensured that
clinicians using health IT only apply the best informatics practices, including using the
technologies appropriately and observing all protocols. At an individual level, I need informatics
training to develop these competencies to properly apply different health IT technologies
(Forman, Armor, & Miller, 2020).
My informatics preferences and strengths are “basic” computer skills, including systems,
essential desktop software, documentation, data access through the internet and health IT
systems, and communication. I am computer literate, meaning I possess elementary compute
skills like using existing external peripheral devises like zip drives and CD-ROMs, operating

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systems (change, delete, and copy directories), Microsoft Word Suite, and the Internet, among
others. I am also aware of information technology concepts like data privacy, interoperability,
data security and privacy, data access and monitoring, and many others. The challenges I am
facing are in “advanced informatics skills,” such as trouble-shooting in apps, assessing existing
limitations and capabilities in technology, interpreting copyright problems in computing,
devising interventions to protect the confidentiality of technologies, and developing computer
apps to meet administration, education, and clinical requirements. I do not have the advanced
software knowledge to effectively and meaningfully develop, implement, and monitor health IT
applications and systems like electronic health records (EHRs).
Also, I admit that the techniques and technologies discussed in the Ye et al. (2020) article
apply to the US to manage COVID-19 and other significant pandemics. These include clinical
information systems, 5G telemedicine, Artificial intelligence (intelligent diagnoses, robots, and
drones), internet of things IoT, cloud computing, big data analysis (digital contact tracing of
people via epidemic prediction and QR codes), and internet hospitals. The US currently does not
have a version similar to China’s WeChat but can modify existing apps like Facebook to produce
similar effects. Of the technologies discussed, I believe the US currently uses big data analysis,
cloud computing, AI, 5G telemedicine, clinical information systems, IoT, and internet hospitals.
Finally, I believe continuous education and training (including via seminars, YouTube
learning, reading books, enrolling in an informatics course, and other methods) are the best ways
of enhancing and updating my informatics skills and project management competencies.
Ongoing training can provide me with new industry updates and developments (Jouparinejad et
al., 2020).

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References

Forman, T. M., Armor, D. A., & Miller, A. S. (2020). A review of clinical informatics
competencies in nursing to inform best practices in education and nurse faculty
development. Nursing Education Perspectives, 41(1), 3-7. doi:
10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000588
Jouparinejad, S., et al. (2020). Improving the informatics competency of critical care nurses:
Results of an international study in the southeast of Iran. BMC Medical Informatics and
Decision-Making, 20, 220. doi: 10.1186/s12911-020-01244-5
Morawski, T. S. (n.d.). Health informatics. HIMSS. https://www.himss.org/resources/health-
informatics
Ye, Q., Zhou, J., & Wu, H. (2020). Using information technology to manage the COVID-19
pandemic: Development of a technical framework based on practical experience in
China. JMIR Medical Informatics, 8(6), Article e19515. https://doi.org/10.2196/19515