Response 1
The subject of informatics integrates technology and information science and generates new valuable knowledge in various professions, including healthcare (Laureate Education 2018). In the case of nursing informatics, elements such as “nursing science, information science, computer science, and cognitive science are required to manage and communicate data information, knowledge and wisdom in nursing practice” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017, P 7). Using a paper chart to look up patient information such as medications and physicians’ notes has become obsolete in most healthcare environments. The introduction of the electronic medical record (EMR) has made latter tasks much faster and easier. EMR can provide the healthcare staff with an efficient and centralized source of information, ultimately improving patient safety. I work in a bustling Oncology/ hospice facility where the ability to quickly find the correct information about patients’ last chemotherapy cycles, oncology notes from other facilities, and radiation notes is paramount for the safety and timely quality of patient care.
Post Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen increases in the number of Oncology patients in our facility. I can utilize informatics where I work by collecting information on patients’ chemotherapy treatment plans. For example, this collection of data will include the chemotherapy drugs and the cycles for the patients. Our facility has struggled to staff chemotherapy-certified nurses adequately; this puts us behind, disrupts timely patient care, and causes unsafe work. By tracking the number of patients visiting weekly and monthly for chemotherapy administration, we will be able to staff our unit adequately with chemotherapy-certified nurses to hopefully avoid excess delay in treatment. It is crucial that our team acts on and synthesizes our data fast because oncologists, nursing staff, and patients have started to get irritated with our current situation.
With the help of our collected data, our nurse leaders would be able to balance the staff’s work schedule so that we have a correct number of chemotherapy-certified nurses for the shifts. Williams (2019) further supports the idea that nursing informatics can improve the public’s health by optimizing information management and communication. Patient safety and quality improvement are achieved by carefully evaluating the workflows, clinical practice, and electronic health records. This will be the core solution to our current problem. We want to provide treatment to our patients while maintaining patient safety. With the help of our data, we will see how many patients are coming back for chemotherapy, what days they will be admitted for the infusion, and how many days they will get the infusion. From here, we would be able to make sure we have a certain number of chemotherapy-certified nurses scheduled to work those days.
Collected data from our EMR is the first step towards providing timely patient care. The discussion and sharing of knowledge between nurse leaders and staff allow the staff to make appropriate changes. This data can also be used to evaluate patient satisfaction. Patient feedback is vital because these feedbacks are used to tell whether a healthcare facility is performing well or not. According to Sweeney (2017), the continuous growth in nursing informatics benefits nursing managers. They can use this as a managerial tool utilized for decision-making processes. In this case our nurse leader can balance out the schedule each month, ensuring that there are minimum two chemotherapy-certified nurses working each shift. 2 APA References
Response 2
The focus of my scenario is that of medical device-related pressure injury (MDRPI). These types of pressure injuries now account for 30% of all hospital-acquired pressure injuries (Martel & Orgill, 2020). I believe data on MDRPI needs to be acquired on my unit since the acuity of the patients being admitted recently increased. Higher acuity patients who are suffering from low mobility levels, malnutrition, low consciousness, and other factors increase the chance of acquiring an MDRPI (Seong et al., 2021).
The data collected will be quantitative, since the data collected will focus on analyzing numerical frequencies (Mcgonigle & Mastrian, 2018, pp. 471–472). I will collect data over a period of a month on any MDRPI that has been acquired on the unit. At the hospital, all acquired pressure injuries must be documented and accessed which would allow me to easily keep track of all acquired MDRPI’s. The data collected would allow me to not only determine the amount of MDRPI’s but to determine what medical devices are causing the most MDRPI’s. As a nurse leader, I can use the information gathered to determine staffs competency and knowledge on preventing MDRPI’s. I can then develop an algorithm for each medical device that caused MDRPI’s. Which can include checking the site of attachment, keeping skin dry, and other corresponding preventative care (Seong et al., 2021). 2APA References
