Oirinv

Information Systems & Technology

Nursing Informatics: An Evolving Specialty

daia. inlorniaiion and knov\'ledge in nursing practice,

Nursing informatics provides the support for
information management for all other nursing
specialties.
Nursing informatics supports the nursing process
by helping to integrate the data, information, and
knowledge required for clinical decision making.
The informatics nurse can play a key role in clini-
cal staff education; project management; system
selection, testing, and implementation; and
research, maintenance, ongoing system evalua-
tion within health care organizations; and in roles
outside health care organizations.
Niu'sing inloi-maiic;s fai:ilitates thi? inlegraliou of data,
information and knowU;dge to support paticMits, nurs-
es and otber pri)viders iii llii^ir (le(;ision-making in all
roles and settings. Tliis su))port is accomplisbed
diroiigh tbe use of inloriiiatioii structures, inlocmation
processes, Lind inforiiia!ion tei:hnology" {p. vW).
Utilizing clinical information systems, an inlbr-
niatit:s nurse; can iiel|j otber uurses exploi'e and
un(i(;rstaiui tin; inlormalional and cogniliv(; founda-
lions of tbeir profession. Tbe abi!il\' to i;lectronii:ali\'
i'i;coi'il, inlegrati!, and analyze tlata and information
enabl(;s nurs(;s to (juickl\' nu)\e to tlie syntln^sis ol
nnrsing knowledge and tbe d(n-(;lo[}!nent ol nursing
wisdom, wbicb tliiiv can then apph' to affect patient
can;.

A
s CLINICAL iNfORMATiON SYSTEMS havn b e c o n i e
more commonly used in clinical p^actic(^ a
specialty in nnrslng has emerged — nursing
informatics. 'Vhe informalics inirs(; combini'S Although the I'ole of the informatics mu'so has
his or hes knowhulge of nursing priictit:o with infor- only j'ei:ontl\' been dofiniul as a nursing sp(;cialt\.
niatio!i inanagomonl: not a small task considering ihe man\' nurses have functionerl in similar rolf;s for a
aiiiount of infbrEnalion generated in tbe pi'ocess ol number of ytiars, Thi^ typical cariier path of tliiise luirs-
nursiiig practices II bas bfuin listimaled ihat nurses (•s began when tb(; hospital at w h i c h they wen;
spend as miicb as ~-}i\%\ of their time gathering, coor- emplovod decided lo implomonl a cbnical informa-
dinating, and docmiKHitIng informal ion, Tbat's wby it tion system. Recognizing tbe noeti for nursing in[)ut, a
Is (essential that some kind of strucUin! and disci[jline nui'se was hired lo liiilp din-ing system impioinenta-
lion, Additi(mal (;aroer oplious becann; availai)le as
bo tnaintainiul in managing all (}i Ihis c;linic:al data in
bis or ber skills ami knowledge gri;w. Some of tluvse
order lo rtializi^ th(; lull potential and benefit of tlnise
iim'S(;s ma\' ba\'e gon(; on to work with an inlormation
sv.sUmis, Nursing informalics pi'o\'idi;s the support lor
syslems vendor or wilb a cousnliing firm helping
that informalion management for all other niu-sing
otlu;r health caro organizaticuis in theii'f'linical system
S[)oc:ialties.
iniplemeutations. As the s|iecialtv of informatics
became more defined, numv of these nmsos docided
lo furtluM' Ibeir (Hhicalioii in diis fii^ld.
As defnied by (Graves and (Corcoran In 1989. nnrs-
ing informatics is a "combination of conipiLter sci- As more heallb i;aro organizaiions imph;ment
enci;. informati(jn scionct; and nursing scieju:!! clini(,ai informaliou syslems. the ]•(^]e ol an inlorniat-
desigLKxi to assisi in Ibe managemcuit and process of ics nurse cannot be nnderesiimatec! in iho potential
nursing data, information and kn(}vvle(ig(! lo support success of tbe implementation and ongoing nse o! the
the practice of nursing and tbe delivery of [lursing syst(!m, The informatics iinrse can pla\' a k(\y roU; in
care," As one of the newest spnciallies rnf;ogniz(;d by clinical staff (;ducation; j)n.ijcct m;.mag(;ment; system
tbe American Nurst;s Association (ANA) in 1992, selection, testing, and impleineulation: and ros(;arch.
nursing infornuitics sui)ports ihe nursing process by maintenance, and ongoing system i;\aluation (Rosen
belping t(j intograto the data, infoi'ination, and knowl- K- Roiiton, I99H),
(dgo retjuinui lor clinical decision making. Tbe ANA Ontside of the health care organizaiion, an infor-
(20mJ furtlior defin(Hi n.ursing inf(jniiatics in its s(;o])e matit.s nurse uia\' Ix; emploxiKl b\' an informaliou sys-
and slandards of nursing informaiics praclice as the tems X'endor to ivork in aroas sui:h as pro(hict di;sign
following: "Nursiiig inforiniitif:s is a spix:ialt\" that and di'velopmenl, customer cciusulting. ediicaiion, or
integrates nnrsing science, computer science aud otlier clinical areas thai lake arK-anlage of the nnicjue
information science to manage and comnuniicati^ knowledge and (experience tiiat a nurse familiar w i t h
Ihe practice Cif infonnatics can hring [Rosen ^^ Roiitfjn,
1998),
McK(;ssnn iiiini iiialiuii S

NURSING ECONOMtCS/November-December 2002A/oL 20/No, 6


Until the lasl decade, there were few formal edu-
cation programs for nursing informatics. As discussod
previously, many informatics nurses started working
in information, systems with littlo or no specifit: infor-
matics education, but learned "on ibe job," There are
now many more traditional nducational programs in
tho fiold of nursing informatics. Most of those pro-
grams offer either a master of scionce in nursing infor-
matics, a post-master's certificate in nursing informat-
ics, or a doctoral [irogram.
Tho Univorsity of Maryland School of Nursing in
Baltimort! offor(;d the first mast<;r's of s(:i(Mico ciegroe
in nursing iiiformatic:s in 198!) antl foll(jwod with a
doctoral program in 1992 (Univorsity of Maryland,
2002), Additional programs aro now available
througbont the United States at otlier schools of nm's-
ing. The American Medical Informatics Association
has a full listing of difforont types of nm'sing informat-
ics programs on their Wob site at www.amia.org/work-
ing/ni/education/education.htnil.
For nnrses actively working in an informatics
position, cortification as an informatics nurse is avail-
able through the Amnrican Nurses (Credential ing
Center (ANCC), Tho ANCC organization reports that
420 nnrses were certified as iiiformatics nurses from
Novomher 1. 1995 through May 31. 2001. (The
American Nursing Informatics Association Wob site
address is wvvw.ania.org.) Pro-roqiiisit(!s and oligibili-
ty roquirements are established by tho ANCC and can
bo found on the ANCC Web sit(! at www.nursing-
world.org/ancc.
Continuing education programs are also offered
through various organizations and facilities. One of
the more po[)ular programs is the Weekend
Immersion in Nursing Informatics, offered at various
locations during tho year In Ibe llniletl States and in
Canada, (For moro information, visit their Wob sit(; at
http://nursing,uinaryhind,edLi/'-snewbold/wini,htn],)
Health care organizations will continue to invest
heavily iu clinical information systems to help
improve patinnt safety, reduce variability of care, and
increase tbe efficiency of their staff. Thust; c;liuical
information systems cau assist in reducing medica-
tion errors through sophisticated medication mauago-
ment sohitious and provide clinical decision support
lo aid in the decision making of all clinicians. They
can also help offset the elTecls of a growing worker
shortage, especially hard-felt in nursing, by roducing
redundant tasks, improving commuu lea tion. and
streamlining clinical data collection. As those clinical
systems arc implemented, there is an increased neod
for information management of all of this complex
data. By bringing both cliuical and iuformatiou sys-
tems expertise to bear, the iuformatics nui'se plays a
cTiicial role in ensuring that those goals aie iin;t to
NURSING ECONOMICS/November-December 2002/Vol. 20/No, 6
help the organizatiou maximize its uso of cliuical
iuformation tochuology.S
RPFKRi-NCKS
AiHiM'iciiii Niir.sos AssociHliiin, (2001). Scope and stundiu'ds of
inn\':ing inftinnatics practice. VViishingliin, DC]: ANA,
(iriivns, J,R,, Xi (Idrcoriin, S, (I9fi9), The study nf nursing informat-
ics, !mii<.',e: Joiirna! o{ Nnrsing Scholarship. 21. 227-2^1,
Roson, K,t.,. SL Roiiton, CM, il9yy, May/Juno), ADiovicaii Nursing
tiiroriiialics Assiicialioji role yiirvey, Compalors in Niirsini^.
i 'nivf^iHily oi Maiylautl, (!2(}O2), [Vcekend hnincrsion in Nursing
inlorjnntics program. |{)]i-line|, KHlrit-!vi-;(] OctDber 14. 2002
troni lilt|)://nursiny,umarylanil.odii/~Kncvvbold/wini.htm
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