Module 7 Discussion: The Future of Nursing Informatics
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Envisioned Future of Nursing Informatics
The art and science of combining nursing data and expertise with technology to organize and incorporate health information are referred to as nursing informatics. Nursing informatics aims to enhance individuals’ and societies’ health while lowering expenses (Vernic, 2019). This discussion relates to my vision for the future of informatics in nursing.
The future of nursing informatics is bright, and I envision a future where nurse Informaticist will be needed to be nurse leaders (Vernic, 2019). The era of the digital revolution has brought forth many advancements in the healthcare sector. Currently, significant processes are managed through information technology, such as storing patients as electronic health records. As digital technology continues to be used in most nursing processes, the skills of nurse Informaticist will be in demand to the extent that they will be required to be among healthcare leaders.
The future will also allow informatics to enhance more use of novel technologies such as block chain, virtual reality, and machine learning. That future is already here, although adopting these technologies has not been effective (Vernic, 2019). Block chain will allow more collaboration where patient data can be shared easily without fear of data being hacked since it is a very secure technology owing to its lack of centralized authority. In the case of VR, it will allow more simulation of central nursing practices (Archibald & Barnard, 2018). This will allow nurses to work in real-life situations without errors since they have practiced all possible scenarios using VR.
Through nursing informatics, the management of conditions will be done almost entirely virtually. Affordable healthcare wearables are increasing (Topaz & Pruinelli, 2017). After being diagnosed physically with a specific condition, I anticipate that patients who do not require intensive care will be required to have their conditions managed remotely. Through wearables, data will be generated from the patient automatically and sent to physicians remotely to be reviewed. That future is already here; through practices such as telemedicine, it has been adopted reluctantly.
I envision that medical procedures will have little impact on the patient through nursing informatics. Non-invasive diagnostic tests and less invasive surgical operations are becoming increasingly popular due to laparoscopic operations, computer-aided visualizing, and laser-based surgical operations (Archibald & Barnard, 2018). Although these operations are being used, they have not yet been fully adapted. (2021). nurse Informaticist will be needed to guide the selection of technologies to be used since they will be skilled enough to know the best options in the market.
The roles of healthcare facility nurses will change through the advancements in informatics. Hospitals require bedside nurses to care for the sick (Topaz & Pruinelli, 2017). This role will probably require a few nurses because informatics will allow connections to be managed remotely. In addition, through informatics’ supported technology, most operations will be non-invasive; therefore, bedside nurses taking care of such patients will have to be assigned other roles. Undoubtedly, these advancements impact the nurses performing the treatment (Archibald & Barnard, 2018). When paired with other influences, they impact nurses’ engagement in the care process, impacting aspects such as reducing hospitalization time.
Finally, I anticipate that nurses at all levels will be required to have the necessary skills in informatics. This is because healthcare operations and the nurses’ roles will continue depending on information technology as time goes on. Therefore, nurses will be required to increase their adaptive mechanism by having the necessary technical skills that will enable them integrated technology into their practices (Topaz & Pruinelli, 2017). Equally, such nurses will continue to be demanded as we approach the envisioned future of informatics in healthcare.
References
Archibald, M. M., & Barnard, A. (2018). Futurism in nursing: Technology, robotics and the fundamentals of care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(11-12), 2473-2480.
Nagle, L. M. (2021). The role of the informatics nurse. In Introduction to nursing informatics (pp. 295-315). Springer, Cham.
Topaz, M., & Pruinelli, L. (2017). Big data and nursing: implications for the future. Stud Health Technol Inform, 232, 165-171.
Vernic, C. (2019). Informatics in nursing. Current and future trends. Applied Medical Informatics, 41, 35-35.