Informatics
- Comes from french informatique which
means computer science
- Combined information science
Computer science + information science
- Used in conjunction with the name of a
discipline, it denotes an application of
computer science and information
science to the management and
processing of data information, and
knowledge in the named discipline
- Science of processing data for storage
and retrieval
- Branch of information engineering
- Study of the behavior and structure of
any system that generates, stores,
processes and then presents
information; basically the science of
information
Healthcare Informatics
- Integration of information science,
health science, computer science, and
cognitive science
- Regarded as the derivative of the
business healthcare application.
- Subgroups:
- Medical informatics
- Health informatics
- Dental Informatics
- Nursing Informatics
Nursing Informatics
- The use of computers technology to
support nursing, including clinical
practice, administration, education, and
research (Hebda, 1998 p3)
- The development and evaluation of
applications, tools, processes, and
structures which assist nurses with the
management of data in taking care of
patients or supporting the practice of
nursing (American Nurses Association)
- A combination of computer science,
information science, and nursing
science designed to assist in the
management and processing of nursing
data, information, and knowledge to
support the practice of nursing and
delivery of nursing care (Graves)
- Intersection point with nursing science,
computer science, and technological
science (Turley)
- The use of technology and/or a
computer system to collect, store,
process, display, retrieve and
communicate timely data and
information and across healthcare
facilities that administer nursing services
and resources, management the
delivery of patient and nursing care, link
research resources and findings to
nursing practice and apply educational
resources to nursing education
(McCornick)
Importance
- Fundamental element for shaping a
specialty
- Guides role delineation for nurses
- Practice of general competencies of the
nurse
Manual Health Care Systems
- Advantages: easy to implement, low
cost, no extra training required,
required minimal effort, quick
processing, can be stored anywhere,
cannot be easily corrupted open (with
proper data storage), easy to prepare,
data profiling can be processed
easily, readiness of data
- Disadvantages: problem with
maintenance, volume of data becomes
a problem (Storage problem), needs lots
of paper, problem with flavescent paper,
problem with interpretation/transcription,
data is not converted easily to
information, readiness of the
information, accessibility to any
healthcare personnel/institution, once
data is burned it cannot be reproduced
easily, coordination of data and
information, integration with the other
systems such as laboratory, accounting,
etc is a problem, data handling is a
problem
 mostly occurs during
Top 4 problems of nurses in workplace ordering and
1. Documentation is excessive administration
- 30 to 60% of nurses work time - Labeling is the second, wrong
eaten up due to documentation entries, dictation, translation and
as a result they seldom engage transcription of orders and other
in normal comforting information
conversation with their patients - Goal: procedures should be
- They deal up to 18 different automated and should be done
kinds of forms and making at bedside leads to great
documentation redundant reduction of errors
- Nurses need to write narrative 4. Communication is poor
like patient history, progess - Communication between
notes intake and output, care healthcare providers and
plans and special procedures by between departments is poor
hand when only telephone system is
- Goal: Documentation should be available since it requires the
15% of total time of nurses shift presence of both
in a normal paperless clinical communicators
settings - The availability of the phone
2. Turnaround time is too long lines and clarity of the
- Turn around starts from the time transmission
a request is made to the time it - Phone lines may be tapped and
was fully accomplished bugged where privacy may be
- Takes longer food many breached
procedures, lab tests, and add - Goal: Computers provide
stress for the patients and different modes of
nurses considering the length of communication like chat,
hospital stay telephone, videoconferencing,
- Even with modern portable emails, simple text messaging
equipments, delays, still occur whatever is the most convenient
due to the larger volume of and appropriate
results that the official
reader/doctor signing Can Automation save nurses?
pathologist might not be - Tertiary Hospital in the Philippines has
available been able to produce good outcomes in
- Goal: 15 minutes turnaround for computerization of information system
most orders like laboratories for almost half century
and procedures with simpler - Organization of files and streamlined
preparations processesl ike billing,
3. Nursing processes are inaccurate
- Rushing of other nursing Teaching nursing informatics is a must
procedures may lead to - SNs must learn and be prepared in
commission and omission of using the automated healthcare
errors and omission of important information system
procedures - They may be taught computer subjects
- Errors: medication error ranging from basic computer
is the number 1 mostly applications to information technology to
committed errors which basic programming
 - Ched memo January 2008 passed a
memo CMO No. 5 Series of 2006
1970 - first computer in healthcare exclusively
used in business and accounting
- Accounting, pharmacy, and admitting
- Healthcare information system
Mid 1980s - expanded to clinical area. Nursing
informatics started
- Nursing informatics is formally accepted
as nursing specialty
1990 - computer technology became an integral
part of the healthcare system
2000 - Clinical information system became
individualized in the electronic patient record,
mobile computing
Computers in Nursing
- Computers influence every sphere of
human activity and bring in many
changes in industry, education,
healthcare, scientific research, and
social services. Law, and even in arts,
music, and printing
- The computer revolutionized the nursing
profession. Clinical and technological
advancements led to a nursing specialty
called nursing informatics the
application of computer and information
science to promote and support the
practice of nursing and the delivery of
nursing care.
Computer: Commonly Operated Machine
Particularly Used for Training Education
Research
Clinical nursing practice
Admission Discharge and Transfer (ADT)
- Nurses to obtain basic biographical
information on clients before they arrive
to the unit.
- When a discharge or transfer is entered
into the computer, all the appropriate
departments are automatically notified,
thus saving information about beds and
client's locations on the unit.
Nursing Documentations
- Nursing care plan, medication
administration records, nursing notes
and discharge plans
- Advantage is legible and can store
standard nursing cares in a format
determined by the institutions to be used
by the nurses as the basis for
developing individualized client care
plan
Real-life uses of computer in Education
Teaching learning process
- Instructing the students using ppt, word
or web pages and hyperlinks
- Readymade software could give
practice material to students
- Collecting notes from web pages for
detailed information
- Saving documents as soft copy
- Learning through animations
- E-books/library
Testing and evaluation process
- Keeping records of students for their
academic scores
- Keeping records in relation to personal
history
- Creating question bank for students
- Online testing and evaluation
- Analysis and interpretation of data
Guidance purposes
- Testing for aptitude, interes, psychology
using computer data bases
Library
- Documents stored as soft copy for
students/faculty members use
- Online magazines, journals, brochures,
research articles
- Records of books maintained using
librarry software
- Records of the issues and returns of the
books
School Administration
- Records of students and employees
 - Accounts of the institutions
- Aid to memory with minimum paperwork
- Circulation of o instructions/noticces and
getting it in printed form
Nursing softwares
- Most overlooked and underappreciated
resource in the operating room that
nursing professionals require is nursing
that performs nursing services. It
minimizes non-clinical time, improves
time management and facilitates access
to information allowing then to do the job
they were trained to do that is deliver
patient care
- SIS nursing software includes a series
of modules tuat address each nursing
related phases of the surgery case and
more. Including: Pre-admission testing,
Preoperative, Intraoperative,
Postoperative
7 tech breakthroughs that will bake you a
better nurse
- Better communication systems - some
hospitals are incorporating advanced
communication systems in which nurses
and other healthcare team members
can text, message, speak, and receive
patient alarms through their smartphone
devices using specialized apps. This
concept replaces antiquated paging
systems and helps the whole nursing
stay in touch and work more efficiently
with each other
- Electronic healthcare records - days of
endless paperwork, filling out patients'
charts and having doctors fax over
medical records will be gone as more
hospitals and facilities convert to EHR,
allowing healthcare providers to access
patient information with few keystrokes.
With an extensive patient history easily
accessible and all in one place, it cuts
down human error, alerts nursing staff to
possible drug interactions, and keeps
track of diagnostic test results.
- Real-time locating system - just as gps
tracking has revolutionized the way we
travel, a system of tagging and tracking
medical equipment can increase
hospital efficiency. Using radiofrequency
identification tags, ultrasound, and/or
infrared, the system helps nursing staff
locate the nearest blood pressure
machine
- Good for patients with
Alzheimers
- Better diagnostic tools - makes
everyone's life easier when diagnostic
exams can be performed non-invasively.
Thanks to new technologies, more
options are available now to perform
minimally invasive tests and treatments.
This helps lower the risk of infection and
over time, is more cost-effective. This
includes nanotechnology like handheld
biosensors that can detect various
diseases from miniscule body
specimens. Another example is Texas
Children’s Hospital’s use of ultrasound
technology to place peripheral IV (PIV)
- Many children are implementing
drug delivery systems in the
form of implantable devices that
release medication into patients.
This aids RNS since they can
schedule complex dosing to
ensure patients get the
medications they need in the
right amount and at exactly the
right moment. Not only does this
reduce human error, but it
allows nurses to focus on other
aspects of patient care (ex.
Implantable intrathecal pump)
- Patient lifting technology - records that
showed more than 2400 of its nursing
staff suffer debilitating injuries every
year from lifting patients
- “The safe patient handling program”
sayst the article. While many hospitals
are trying to make technology the norm
for every patient room. Since the
implementation of the program in the VA
hospitals, they report a 40% percent
reduction in nursing injuries from moving
(Ex. Hoyer lift)