THE IMPACT OF NURSING INFORMATICS 2

The Impact of Nursing Informatics on Patient Outcomes and Patient Care Efficiencies
Introduction
Nursing educators and leaders have recognized the need to have every nurse take part in
nursing informatics. It mainly entails using information and communication technologies in
collecting data, generating knowledge, and using the information to support the nursing practice.
Nursing informatics has the potential to enhance nursing practice and ultimately improve the
quality of care. It is possible to transform the nursing practice by having nurses develop a culture
of accepting and promoting the use of information technologies as basic tools in their practice.
This paper provides a detailed project proposal on the advancement of nursing care using
technology as a way of working towards improving patient outcomes.
Description of Project Proposal
The project I propose is the introduction of wearables for patients who have chronic
conditions and need constant monitoring. The proposal aims at helping keep the cost of
healthcare low by minimizing the patient’s hospital stay. It will entail the use of devices that will
help nurses monitor patients from home, and this will limit hospital visits to only when it is
absolutely necessary. Wearable technologies entail the use of gadgets that will gather a wide
range of data from sleep routines, mood changes, exercise routines, and blood sugar using
ballistocardiogram (BCG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) (Dinh-Le et al., 2019). They may
include smartwatches, wristbands, mobile sensors (which are wearable), and other mobile hub
medical devices. Also, they could be attached to the skin depending on the nature of the
monitoring required. I am proposing an awareness to be first made among patients, who may feel
that the idea is so foreign and that their privacy is being interfered with. Then, a smartphone will

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be used to collect information and then transmit it to a server that will be located remotely where
it will be stored and analyzed. In case unusual data is collected, then an alert is sent, and a nurse
informaticist acts accordingly, and this could entail contacting the patient and giving them
instructions on what to do to control the situation. In the event that the alert signals a serious
symptom in a patient, then the nurse is alerted and contacts the patient so that he or she can get to
the hospital for checkup and monitoring.
Stakeholders Impacted by the Project
The organization has multiple independent entities that collaborate with each for the
proper functioning of the different departments, and also to ensure that patient care is prioritized.
The project will impact on several of these entities. First, the management will be affected
because there will be a need for a campaign to create awareness among patients who may be
unaware of the new technology being implemented. Also, the management will need to purchase
these devices. The project proposes that the cost of purchasing the devices be transferable to the
cost incurred by the patient so that it becomes easier and economical to implement it. Secondly,
nurse informaticists will be involved in the installation of the devices (Wu & Luo, 2019). Nurses
will also be educated on how the wearables function as well as how to help a patient understand
its use. Lastly, the end-users, who are the patients, will also be impacted by the implementation
of this project. First, they will be educated on their importance and function and guided on what
to do to ensure that they do not interfere with the functioning o the device.
Patient-care Efficiencies
The wearables will collect patient data either through the patient reporting or through
using sensors that will communicate with devices through interfaces provided for by different

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applications ((Dinh-Le, et al., 2019). The collected data will then be shared through Health kits
such as Apple’s that will be used to pool data from different health apps. These wearables will
directly impact on patient-care efficiencies. The devices that will be given to patients will have
the capacity to help them deal with and manage chronic conditions such as chronic pain,
diabetes, and heart conditions. Without the wearables, patients with such conditions have to visit
the healthcare organization regularly for periodical checkups and monitoring. However, with the
implementation of wearable devices, such will change. Patients will be monitored from home.
Also, in the case of alarming data, the nurses will be able to contact the patient immediately and
advise them accordingly. Evidently, care will be timely and efficient.
Nurses do not have to make rounds in the wards checking on patients. By monitoring the
data collected, it is easy and convenient for both the nurse and the patient. Also, since nurses are
not always available to monitor patients with more than one chronic condition, wearables will
help in providing constant monitoring. At the moment, and with the rising number of patients,
nurses are overstretched and may not afford to conduct the regular four to eight hours rounds.
Wearables will ensure that chronic conditions do not take huge economic and personal tolls on
the patient and the family (Peltola, 2017). A patient who needs to inject insulin into their system
will be reminded by the wearable device and does not have to check with the nurse to know
when they should do it. Patient engagement is increased, thus leading to positive patient
outcomes (Bove, 2019). Patients will track their data and then share it with their nurse, and this
will help improve patient outcomes. As patients continue tracking their data, they are likely to be
encouraged to change their lifestyle and live healthy lives.
Technologies required to Implement the project

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First, the Electronic Health Record (EHR) System will be required to store and help
managed patient records. The HER will be vital in managing patient data, accessing it, and
tracking the progress being made by the patient. These are the ones that will provide data, which
will be used to measure the effectiveness of the project in promoting positive patient outcomes.
Secondly, wearables will be required. They will include smartwatches, wristbands, smart
jewelry, and mobile sensors. Sensors will be necessary for capturing different parameters such as
body temperature, blood glucose level, and heart rate (Lobelo et al., 2016). Then smartphones
will be used to collect the information provided by the wearables. There will be servers, which
will receive the information transmitted by the smartphones. The servers will then be analyzed,
and patients’ records updated accordingly in the EHR. An information registry will allow for
data to be stored in real-time and be exhaustively analyzed.
Project Team Roles
Different professionals will be involved in implementing the project. First, a physician
will, with the help of a software expert, create a program that will be tailored based on the
specific needs of a patient (Aydin et al., 2017). The physician then explains the use of the device
to the patient and places it on the patient. It can be placed on the wrist, or other places depending
on convenience and patient demands. A nurse informaticist will be implemented in the project,
specifically in analyzing the data sent through the smartphones to the remote server. The nurse
informaticist will store the information through the EHR. The nurse informaticist will guide
other nurses on the use of the collected data. They will use the data to generate knowledge that
will inform the kind of care that will be extended to the patients. Further, nurse informaticists
could be used to help the physicians in providing the devices to patients and explaining the use
and importance of the gadgets to the patients. Lastly, nurse informaticists will be involved in

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making decisions on the use of the wearables and how they will be customized t provide reliable
data, that will then inform the practice of nursing and provision of care.
Conclusion
Overall, the implementation of this project will be effective in achieving positive patient
outcomes. Nurse informaticists have a crucial role in the implementation of this project because
it involves the use of technology to improve patent outcomes. The implementation of the
wearable technology will not only revolutionize patient outcomes but also change the roles of
nurses. Wearables are part of nursing care, and nurses benefit from this innovative technology
through being proactive, vocal, and visionary. Also, since nurses are central to patient care,
wearable technology will result in the enhancement of the quality of care provided to patients.
The implementation will be an indication that nursing informatics produces and applies its own
information.

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References

Aydin, G. O., Turan, N., & Kaya, N. (2017). Wearable Technology in Nursing. PressAcademia
Procedia, 4(1), 80-83.
Bove, L. A. (2019). Increasing Patient Engagement Through the Use of Wearable
Technology. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 15(8), 535-539.
Dinh-Le, C., Chuang, R., Chokshi, S., & Mann, D. (2019). Wearable Health Technology and
Electronic Health Record Integration: Scoping Review and Future Directions. JMIR
mHealth and uHealth, 7(9), e12861.
Lobelo, F., Kelli, H. M., Tejedor, S. C., Pratt, M., McConnell, M. V., Martin, S. S., & Welk, G.
J. (2016). The wild wild west: a framework to integrate mHealth software applications
and wearables to support physical activity assessment, counseling, and interventions for
cardiovascular disease risk reduction. Progress in cardiovascular diseases, 58(6), 584-
594.
Peltola, O. (2017). Introduction to Wearable Healthcare Technology.
Wu, M., & Luo, J. (2019). Wearable technology applications in healthcare: A literature
review. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI), 23(3).