IM3001A: Informatics in Healthcare

IM3001A: Informatics in Healthcare Pre – Assessment
PROMPT: You are responsible for orienting several new graduates to your nursing unit.
The new hires are scheduled to begin an orientation session with the health informatics
department. Prior to the orientation, the new hires need to gain a baseline understanding
of the history and evolution of nursing informatics. To assist with their understanding,
create a new-hire information sheet that addresses the following topics (1–2 pages):
1. Describe the key components that contribute to the definition of nursing
informatics.
According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), nursing informatics “is the
speciality that integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences
to identify define, manage and communicate data, information, knowledge and wisdome in
nursing practice’, (ANA, 2016). Informatices is an interdisciplinary field that combines
different areas of sciences such as, computer, decision, information, management,
cognitive and organizational theories while encompassing specific fields such as,
Transitional Bioinformatics, Clinical Researh Informatics, Clinical Informatices,
Consumer Health Informatics and Public Health Informatics to produce Helath
Informatics.
2. Provide a brief explanation of the historical evolution of health informatics in
general.
Since the 1950s, when computers were able to store and process “large” amounts of data,
software developers saw their chance to incooporate technology in the healthcare setting.
The Electronic Medical Record systems (EMR) dates back as early as the 1960s when
IBM created their Hospital Information System (HIS) along with Akron Children’s
Hospital. This is said to be the first clinical computer-based hospital information system.
This pioneered the creation and use of the ambulatory electronic medical record system
that began to be used outside of the hospital setting in the late 1960s. ‘Clinical decision
support systems were another important early application of informatics to patient care. These
systems seek to guide physicians based on scientific evidence as they make diagnostic and
therapeutic clinical decisions,’ (Braunstein, 2018) these date back to roughly 1972.
3. Describe the aspects of healthcare that the Health Information Technology for
Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act sought to improve when it was
signed into law.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) was
initiated in 2009 to increase the use of the EMR by healthcare professionals in hospital and
private healthcare practices. The HITECH goals included, improvement of quality, safety
and efficiancy, engagement in patient care, increased coordination of said care, improvement
of health status of a population and ensureance of privacy and security. To assist in achieving
these goals, the HIPAA regulations were throroughy checked and reviewed to create stricter
penalties should there be breaches within the facility system and breaches of patient
information.