What is Nursing Informatics and Why is it so …

1 50 DRIVEWAY, OTTAWA ON K2P 1E2 TEL: (613) 237-2133 1-800-361-8404 FAX: (613) 237-3520 WEB SITE: E-MAIL: to as Nursing , however, there is a need forall nurses to integrate Nursing informat-ics competencies into their practices. While there is no standard definition forthe concept of Nursing Informatics , thefollowing definition was proposed in the1999 National Nursing InformaticsProject (NNIP) discussion paper:1 Nursing Informatics (NI) is the application ofcomputer science and information science tonursing. NI promotes the generation, manage-ment and processing of relevant data in orderto use information and develop knowledge thatsupports Nursing in all practice of Nursing Informatics areillustrated in figure blocks of nursingcommunicationsThe foundation of Nursing Informatics isbased on the concepts of data, informa-tion andknowledge.

2 Because informationand knowledge are essential for nurseswhen interpreting data and makingdecisions, it is important to know thedifference between these is key to effective decision-making and integral to quality Nursing practice. Much ofwhat nurses do involves information from assessing the health care needs ofpatients, to developing care plans, tocommunicating patient information toother health professionals, to analyzingstaffing and budget reports in fact,nurses work in an in information technology( , computers and software) over thelast 25 years have created significantopportunities for nurses to be aware ofcurrent information when making deci-sions.

3 We have faster computers toprocess data, more sophisticated soft-ware to assist in the transformation ofdata into useful information, and power-ful communication technologies such asthe internet to enable the secure trans-mission of information among healthservice organizations and professionals. Advances in information technologyhave accelerated efforts to implementinformation systems such as theelectronic health record. The electronichealth record(EHR) is a collection of allof an individual s interactions withthe health care system that will beavailable electronically(subject toprivacy, confidentiality and securityguidelines and legislation) to healthcare professionals anywhere in thecountry.

4 EHRs have the potential toenhance nurses decision-makingregarding the delivery of care by sup-plying access to health informationabout clients, allowing data-entry,and offering electronic access to sci-entific knowledge. In Canada, muchwork remains to be done to make theEHR a reality. Advances in information technologyhave created new roles for nurses, andemphasized the need for all nurses tobecome more knowledgeable abouthealth information concepts and thetechnology that is designed to manageand process information. Many nursesrecognize Informatics , derived from theFrench term informatique, as an area ofnursing specialization.

5 Nurses withexpertise in Informatics are oftenWhat is NursingInformatics and Whyis it so Important? Number 11 FIGURE APPLICATIONS OF Nursing INFORMATICSC linical Practice Recording of patient assessment datain an electronic health record Recording of workload and interven-tions as a by-product of electroniccharting Administration Analysis of MIS reports generated froma spreadsheet software application Review of outcome indicators using adecision-support software application Recording of workload and interventionsas a by-product of electronic charting Education Distance learning/teaching via theinternet Recording of workload and

6 Interven-tions as a by-product of electroniccharting Research Evaluation of nurse-sensitive outcomemeasures using a standard minimumdata set Use of knowledge bases via the internet Recording of workload and interventionsas a by-product of electronic charting September 2001 CANADIAN NURSES ASSOCIATION, 50 DRIVEWAY, OTTAWA ON K2P 1E2 TEL: (613) 237-2133 1-800-361-8404 FAX: (613) 237-3520 E-MAIL: disciplines and across the con-tinuum of health services need to bestructured and defined in a standard orcommon way this means that notonly do we need standards for com-mon concepts but we also need stan-dards that are compatibleacross infor-mation systems used by differenthealth professions, across the continu-um of health service delivery, and with-in and across provinces and all the challenges,there has been significant progressover the last decade in the develop-ment of health information stan-dards.

7 Highlights of relevant workare provided here.(a) Nursing TerminologyAt the international level, theInternational Council of Nurses (ICN)is leading the development of a univer-sal language for defining and describ-ing Nursing practice the InternationalClassification for Nursing Practice(ICNP ).The purpose of ICNP is to provide atool for describing and documentingkey elements that represent clinicalnursing practice. ICNP provides nurs-ing with a common framework thatfacilitates cross-mapping of existingnursing vocabularies and classifica-tions to enable comparison of nursingdata across organizations, health sec-tors, and countries.

8 The alpha versionof ICNP was released in 1996 forreview and feedback. A significantlyrevised beta version was released in1999 and has been translated intomore than 20 languages.(b) Health Information: Nursing ComponentsIn Canada, CNA s HI: NC (HealthInformation: Nursing Components)Working Group has continued to buildon the work started in the early 1990sto develop a standardized minimumdata set for Nursing . There is now anational consensus that critical nursingcare data elements include client status, Nursing intervention and client outcome. While nurses have reached a consen-sus on the kinds of data elementsrequired, they now must begin movingthese concepts to implementation byDataare discrete observations that arenot interpreted, organized or struc-tured.

9 Informationis data that has beeninterpreted, organized or structured toprovide meaning to the data. Andknowledge is the synthesis of informa-tion to identify relationships thatprovide further insight to an issue orsubject area. When you think about it,these concepts are the building blocksof all Nursing communications. Nursescollect data when assessing and moni-toring the health of clients and recordtheir observations in the client s chart;they exchange service requests to, andreceive results from, the clinical labora-tory and radiology departments; theyreceive and review admission data anddischarge summaries; they review infor-mation on the results of clinical trials;they communicate client informationbetween service providers; they sum-marize, calculate and interpret work-load indices for their Nursing unit formonitoring and management purposes.

10 And they consult evidence-based clini-cal guidelines and protocols to guidetheir practice. As knowledge workers,nurses use sources such as these toinfluence examples of data, informationand knowledge relevant to Nursing areprovided three concepts can be stored incomputers and software programs canbe developed to assist in the interpre-tation of the data and the develop-ment of new Nursing knowledge. Whilethe concepts of data, information andknowledge are different, the conceptsas a whole are typically referred togenerically as information. Common language forcommon conceptsThe need for health information stan-dards has never been greater.