Handbook of Informatics

for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals

Fifth Edition

CHAPTER 1
Informatics in the
Healthcare
Professions

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Learning Outcomes

1. Define the terms data, information,

knowledge, and wisdom.
2. Describe the role of the nurse as
knowledge worker.
3. Discuss the significance of good
information and knowledge management
for healthcare delivery, the healthcare
disciplines, and healthcare consumers.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Learning Outcomes

4. Distinguish between medical

informatics, nursing informatics, and
consumer informatics.
5. Differentiate between computer and
information literacy.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Learning Outcomes

6. Discuss the Technology Informatics

Guiding Education Reform Initiative
and contrast the different informatics
competencies needed for nurses
entering into practice, experienced
nurses, and informatics nurses and
nurse specialists.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Learning Outcomes

6. Discuss the relationship between

major issues in healthcare and the
deployment of information technology.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Learning Outcomes

8. Identify characteristics that define

nursing informatics as a specialty area
of practice.
9. Provide specific examples of how
nursing informatics impacts the
healthcare consumer as well as
professional practice, administration,
and research.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Learning Outcomes

10.Forecast the roles that nursing

informatics and health information
technology will play in the healthcare
delivery system 5 years from now.
11.Compare the types of educational
opportunities available in nursing
informatics.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Data Wisdom

Data
Characters, numbers, or facts gathered
for analysis and possibly later action
Information
Interpreted data, i.e., B/P readings
Knowledge
Synthesis of information from several
sources to produce a single concept

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Data Wisdom

Wisdom
Occurs when knowledge is used
appropriately to manage and solve
problems

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Knowledge Work

Healthcare settings are knowledge

intensive
Exponential growth in knowledge
Information technology supports
evidence-based practice through just-
in-time access to information
Nurses detect patterns to create new
knowledge

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Knowledge Worker Roles

Data gatherer
Collects clinical data
Information user
Interprets clinical data and uses it to
monitor patients, aids with decisions
Knowledge user
Compares data to current knowledge

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Knowledge Worker Roles

Knowledge builder
Amasses data to show patterns that can
be interpreted using existing knowledge
or used to create new knowledge

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Information vs. Knowledge
Management
Good information management
provides the right information at the
right time to the right people.
Knowledge management creates
systems that enable organizations to
tap into the knowledge, experiences,
and creativity of their staff to improve
their performance.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Informatics

What is it?
It is the art and science of turning data
into information.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Medical Informatics

The application of information science

and technology to acquire, process,
organize, interpret, store, use, and
communicate medical data in all of its
forms in medical education, practice
and research, patient care, and health
management

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Nursing Informatics

integrates nursing science, computer science,

and information science to manage and
communicate data, information, knowledge and
wisdom into nursing practice. facilitates the
integration of data, information, knowledge and
wisdom to support patients, nurses, and other
providers in their decision-making in all roles and
settings. This support is accomplished through
the use of information structures, information
processes, and information technology
(American Nurses Association [ANA] 2007, p. 1).

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Consumer Informatics

Branch of medical informatics that

studies the use of electronic
information and communication to
improve medical outcomes and the
health care decision-making process
from the patient/consumer perspective
(AMIA, May 3, 2007)

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Information Literacy

The ability to recognize when

information is needed as well as the
skills to find, evaluate, and use needed
information effectively (Association of
College and Research Libraries [ACRL],
2002).

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
Key Initiatives and Organizations

Institute of Medicine
American Hospital Association
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and
Quality & Safety Education for Nurses
Project (QSEN)
The Joint Commission

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
Key Initiatives and Organizations

Technology Informatics Guiding

Education Reform Initiative (TIGER)
The American Association of Colleges of
Nursing (AACN)
National League for Nursing (NLN)
International Council of Nurses (ICN)

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Informatics Competencies

Entry level
The experienced nurse
The informatics nurse
The informatics nurse specialist (INS)
(ANA, 2007)

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Entry-Level Competencies

Possess basic computer skills

Use information technology to support
clinical and administrative processes
Access data and charts electronically
Support patient safety initiatives using
information technology
Recognize role of informatics in nursing

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
Experienced Nurse Competencies

Possess basic computer skills

Support specialty area, including
quality improvement and other
activities, via IT
Use evidence-based databases
Promote technology applications
Use information systems and work with
IT staff to enact system improvements

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Informatics Nurse

Proficient with informatics applications

to support all areas of nursing practice
Fiscal management
Integration of multidisciplinary
language/standards of practice
Demonstrates critical-thinking, data-
management, decision-making, and
system development and computer
skills
Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition
Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Informatics Nurse

Identifies/provides data for decision

making

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Informatics Nurse Specialist

More sophisticated level of

understanding and skills
Innovator
Conducts informatics research and
generates informatics theory

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Forces Driving Information
Technology
Push for patient safety
The nursing shortage
The move toward evidence-based
practice
Genomics
Demands for cost-efficient, quality care
Research
Pay for performance

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 The Push for Patient Safety

Accurate patient identification

IT safeguards
Computerized provider order entry
(CPOE)
E-prescribing
Bar-code and RFID medication
administration
Decision support software (DSS)
Smart technology
Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition
Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 The Nursing Shortage

Flight out of the profession

Aging nurses
Workflow changes to support nurses

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Evidence-Based Practice

Move toward proven interventions

Driven by demands for greater quality
and cost efficiency
Provides greater consistency in care
from institution-to-institution and
provider to provider

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Genomics

The study of genes and their function

with the subsequent ability to tailor
treatments to the individual
Outgrowth of demands for quality and
efficiency
Means to provide care tailored to the
individual

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
Demands for Quality, Affordable
Care
Online report cards
Consumer transparency
Remote clinical monitoring
Disease management
Research
Magnet hospital movement

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Informatics Benefits

Support for work Prompts to improve

processes documentation
Improved records Improved safety
Decreased with better patient
redundancy identification,
Increased decision support,
convenience and tracking
Improved data Improved
collection communication and
access to
information
Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition
Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 Educational Opportunities

Information technology expands access

to all types of education primarily
through the use of the Internet.
Formal and information programs exist
to promote informatics skills.

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 The Future

Help clinicians to develop needed

competencies
Develop and implement information
technology
Generate new knowledge

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar
 The Future

New roles with consumers

New technologygenomics, robotics,
wearable monitoring devices,
developments in educational
technology

Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals, Fifth Edition

Toni Hebda Patricia Czar