This document defines nursing informatics and discusses its application in various areas of nursing practice. Nursing informatics can be used in clinical practice through electronic medical records, computerized documentation and monitoring, and clinical decision support systems. It supports nursing administration via automated scheduling, email communication, and data analysis. Nursing education utilizes informatics for record keeping, online instruction, and research resources. Benefits include improved access to records, decreased data entry redundancy, increased documentation time, and facilitated research.

1. BY: JOANNIE ROSE V. PELIEN

2. Objectives
 To know the definition of the application of nursing
informatics in the healthcare delivery system
 To know the used to support various areas of nursing
practice.
 To know the Benefits of Computer Automation in Health
Care

3. Application of Nursing Informatics
 Nursing Informatics can be applied to all areas of
nursing practice, which include; clinical practice,
administration, education, and research. The next
slides are some examples of how nursing
informatics, information technology and
computers, are used to support various areas of
nursing practice.

4. a. Nursing Clinical Practice
(Point-of-Care Systems and Clinical Information Systems)
 Work lists to remind staff of planned nursing
interventions
 Computer generated client documentation
 Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Computer-
Based Patient Record (CPR)

5. a. Nursing Clinical Practice
(Point-of-Care Systems and Clinical Information Systems)
continuation…
 Monitoring devices that record vital signs and other
measurements directly into the client record
(electronic medical record)
 Computer - generated nursing care plans and critical
pathways
 Automatic billing for supplies or procedures with
nursing documentation
 Reminders and prompts that appear during
documentation to ensure comprehensive charting.

6. b. Nursing Administration
(Health Care Information Systems)
 Automated staff scheduling
 E-mail for improved communication
 Cost analysis and finding trends for budget
purposes
 Quality assurance and outcomes analysis

7. c. Nursing Education
 Computerized record-keeping
 Computerized-assisted instruction
 Interactive video technology
 Distance Learning-Web based courses and degree
programs
 Internet resources-CEU's and formal nursing
courses and degree programs
 Presentation software for preparing slides and
handouts-PowerPoint and MS Word

8. d. Nursing Research
 Computerized literature searching-CINAHL,
Medline and Web sources
 The adoption of standardized language related to
nursing terms-NANDA, etc.
 The ability to find trends in aggregate data, that is
data derived from large population groups-
Statistical Software, SPSS

9. Adapted from Nelson & Roos (1992),
Computer Applications in Nursing Education and Practice

10. Benefits of Computer Automation in Health Care
 Many of these benefits have came about with the
development of the electronic medical
record, which is the electronic version of the
client data found in the traditional paper record.
 Other benefits of automation and computerization
are related to the use of decision-support
software, computer software programs that
organize information to aid in decision making for
client care or administrative issues.

11. EMR (Electronic Medical Records)
 Improved access to the medical record. The EMR can be
accessed from several different locations simultaneously,
as well as by different levels of providers.
 Decreased redundancy of data entry. For example,
allergies and vital signs need only be entered once.
 Decreased time spent in documentation. Automation
allows direct entry from monitoring equipment, as well
as point-of-care data entry.
 Increased time for client care. More time is available for
client care because less time is required for
documentation and transcription of physician orders.

12. EMR (Electronic Medical Records)
 Facilitation of data collection for
research. Electronically stored client records
provide quick access to clinical data for a large
number of clients.
 Improved communication and decreased potential
for error. Improved legibility of clinician
documentation and orders is seen with
computerized information systems.
 Creation of a lifetime clinical record facilitated by
information systems.

13. DSS (Decision-support Software)
 Decision-support tools as well as alerts and reminders notify
the clinician of possible concerns or omissions. An example of
this, is the documentation of patient allergies in the computer
system. The health care providers would be alerted to any
discrepancies in the patient medication orders.
 Effective data management and trend-finding include the
ability to provide historical or current data reports.
 Extensive financial information can be collected and analyzed
for trends. An extremely important benefit in this era of
managed care and cost cutting.
 Data related to treatment such as inpatient length of stay and
the lowest level of care provider required can be used to
decrease costs.

14. Importance Of Nursing Informatics (September 2001)
 Information is the key to effective decision-making and integral to
quality nursing practice.
 Nurses work in an information-intensive environment
 Much of what nurses do involves information…
 from assessing the health care needs of the patients
 to developing care plans
 to communicating patient’s information to other health
professional
 To analyzing staffing and budgeting reports

15. References
Hebda, nursing informatics as (Hebda, 1998)
References
Hebda. (1998). "the use of computers technology to support nursing, including clinical practice, administration, education, and research.''