Nurses and Healthcare Professionals
Nurses and Healthcare Professionals
Working on the final presentation has brought me to a few conclusions. First is that the nurse informaticists plays a key role in linking nursing and technology. This type of nurse takes their clinical knowledge and applies it to technology to improve patient outcomes. The nurse informaticists is crucial in being the change agent when it comes to introducing new technology or changes within technology at the bedside. Second conclusion is that using change theory is important for new technology to be accepted and successfully implemented into practice. The third conclusion is that technology is expanding at a rapid rate, the incorporation of electronic health records has made improvements in patient outcomes. The future of EHR applications have unlimited possibilities, however, ethical considerations need to be addressed. Just because technology can make improvements does not necessarily mean it should. And lastly, nurses at the bedside should be involved in the process of change. They are the stakeholders in change, the ones that experience the positives and negatives of incorporating changes into healthcare.
For the final presentation I am researching the interoperability of the EHR to improve triage accuracy. My focus is using EHR clinical systems such as clinical decision support systems to process data gathered during triage to support accurate triage acuity assignment. (Hebda, Hunter, Czar, 2019) Thus far in researching literature I have concluded that it is not just my experience in witnessing inaccurate triage assignments. Tam, Chung, and Lou (2018) research describes how worldwide there are problems in assigning accurate acuity levels despite the triage algorithm used. Experience and training are key factors in triage accuracy. Applying thinking algorithms could assist the triage nurse in making the important decision of how long a patient may safely wait to be seen in the emergency room. Monga (2017) discusses how incorporating “thinking” algorithms into EHRS can be done to guide practitioners in decision making. The question is should it be done? Ethical dilemmas arise, such as what if the algorithm applies the same biases as the nurse, or use of suggested acuity level is no longer a suggestion because the nurse becomes too dependent on the system. (Char, Shah, & Magnus, 2018) This application to the triage process would not create a change in nursing practice as it should be used as a support process and not a definitive decision process.
References
Char, D. S., Shah, N. H., & Magnus, D. (2018). Implementing machine learning in health care – Addressing ethical challenges. The New England Journal of Medicine, 378(11), 981–983. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1714229
Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P. (2019). Handbook of Informatics for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Monga, K. (2017). Using machine learning to increase agility in HIM. Journal of AHIMA, 88(7), 30-32. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1912093679?accountid=34574
Tam, H. L., Chung, S. F., & Lou, C. K. (2018). A review of triage accuracy and future direction.BMC Emergency Medicine, 18(1), 58. doi:10.1186/s12873-018-0215-0
