With roots tracing all the way back to Florence Nightingale, nursing informatics has improved healthcare through the connection of nursing science to multiple sources of information and analytical science to inform nursing practice. Starting with simple data collection, the field has expanded with ever-changing technology and advancements to facilitate ongoing, continuous  improvement, always with a focus on enhanced patient care.

This week, you will explore the role of nursing informatics in patient care, the impact of nursing informatics pioneers, and the role of technology in facilitating growth and change. Additionally, you will begin work on a small nursing informatics project by selecting a topic to focus on for the duration of the course. You will use project management strategies and techniques to demonstrate your understanding of nursing informatics as you explore your topic and consider appropriate solutions.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze contributions of nursing informatics innovators
• Compare nursing informatics innovators
• Analyze contributions of nursing informatics innovators on nursing practice
• Analyze how contributions of nursing informatics innovators relate to skill development for professional nursing practice
• Identify a small nursing informatics project*

*Assigned in Week 1 of Module 1 and submitted in Week 5 of Module 3

Learning Resources

Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)

Required Media (click to expand/reduce)

Optional Resources (click to expand/reduce)

Discussion: Health Information Technology and Nursing Informatics: Nursing Informatics Innovators

• In the video, Nursing Informatics Innovators, you are provided an extensive list of 34 nursing informatics innovators. Each of these individuals has been integral in advancing nursing informatics and the field of nursing practice.
  Innovators in the field of nursing informatics, led the way in shifting the perception of a nurse as an art of patient care, to the practice of nursing as a science, vested in science, technology, and advancements.

• Photo Credit: Blend Images/John Fedele / Blend Images / Getty Images

Nursing informatics innovators facilitated and created major advancements in the field of nursing and ensured the field would be one of advancement, continual change, and scientific innovation. Exploring the work of these innovators is essential in understanding where nursing informatics began, where it is now, and where it continues to go.

For this Discussion, reflect on the role of individual nursing informatics innovators and consider their contributions, the impact of their contributions, and what you might specifically learn from them in your nursing practice. Reflect on how you might apply the knowledge of these innovators to your nursing practice, your education, and your future goals.

To Prepare

• Review the Learning Resources for this week and focus on the Nursing Informatics Innovators media piece for this Discussion. Select the biographies and video presentations of two innovators who are of interest to you or may hold a position that you aspire to achieve.
• Reflect on the following as you review these video presentations:
  • Consider how their contributions have influenced health information technology and nursing practice today. What are the professional accomplishments of each individual?
  • How have their contributions influenced nursing practice?
  • How have their contributions shaped the field of nursing informatics?
  • What lessons can you take away from their experiences?
  • What skills or ideas demonstrated by these leaders might you apply to your professional practice?

By Day 3 of Week 1

Post a brief description of the two innovators you selected and explain why. Include in your description how their contributions influenced health information technology and the professional accomplishments of each innovator. Then, describe how their contributions influenced nursing practice and how these contributions may have shaped the field of nursing informatics. Be specific. Then, explain any lessons you might take away from their experiences, including an explanation of how the skills or ideas demonstrated by these pioneers might apply to your professional practice. Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 1

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by explaining how the innovators selected by your colleague may demonstrate skills related to your professional practice and why.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 1 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 of Week 1 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 1

To Participate in this Discussion:

Week 1 Discussion

Looking Ahead: Course Project Overview: Developing a Small Nursing Informatics Project for Your Organization

• You will use project management tools and strategies to propose how you would support and potentially implement a small nursing informatics project. While you may not have the opportunity to implement this proposed project, this project will allow you to apply the skills needed and the considerations that are required in deducing how a project of this scope might take place in your nursing practice. To complete this project, you will define a small informatics project that would be beneficial to your healthcare organization or nursing practice. You can discuss this with upper leadership, in your practice or organization, explaining that you will need to design, plan, and propose how to implement and evaluate a small informatics project that can be completed within a 9-week time frame during this course. This project will be completed in two parts.

• Photo Credit: auremar / Adobe Stock

• Part 1 (Due in Week 5):
  • During Week 1: Identify and initiate a conversation with a nurse leader at your or healthcare organization or nursing practice. Be sure to mention that you will need to develop Scope and Charter Documents (2 pages).
    • Review Chapter 3 in the Sipes (2020) text. The questions and content you need to include in the examples are there. Be sure to differentiate between the Scope (page 61) versus the Charter (page 59).
• During Weeks 2–5, Project Design: Develop a Scope and Charter. The templates are available in the Sipes text. The first step, the conceptual step or phase 1, is to determine the “who, problem and purpose, and how” you will accomplish this task and what you will and will not do.
  • For the Scope document, include all elements for page 61 in the Sipes  text. You can use a Word document with table. Consult the “How to Write a Scope of Work Document” media piece provided in this week’s Learning Resources.
• Part 2 will be due in Weeks 9 and 10:
  • Use the nursing informatics and project management competencies and concepts to design and plan a project for your organization, in a 17- to 20-page paper, due by Day 7 in Week 9. If time allows based on the type of project, you will also implement and evaluate the outcomes. Each week you will develop and apply a component needed to complete the project.
  • Develop a 10- to 15-slide, narrated presentation of your project that you might present to stakeholders in your healthcare organization or nursing practice. You will also share your presentation with your colleagues in a Discussion forum by Day 2 in Week 10.

What’s Coming Up in Week 2?

• Photo Credit: [BrianAJackson]/[iStock / Getty Images Plus]/Getty Images

Next week, you will examine the concepts, terminology, and tools integral to nursing informatics. You will explore barriers to nursing practice, as well as examine how project management principles might help you to solve an issue through a small nursing informatics project.

Next Week