Nursing Informatics in Education

Introducing Informatics Early in Nursing Education
Introduction
As Shackelford (2019) notes in “Industry Voices—Healthcare is Changing,” there is a serious need to reach future workforce members at an earlier age, before they enter into college and a nursing program. Students need to start developing real world skills that will translate well to professional development in the healthcare industry—and that means they need to develop communication skills, technological understanding, and have access to intro-level health care courses when they enter high school. Getting students interested in a future healthcare career at the age of 14 or 15 is a great way to prepare the future workforce and provide them with “career-ready” skills, as Shackelford (2019) puts it. The rationale for selecting this topic regarding the need to expose younger students to skills that can be used in healthcare informatics is that in today’s digital age technology is so much a part of everyone’s life. This presents opportunities to use technology to get younger studies interested in and ready to be part of the healthcare industry through the use of informatics. By preparing younger students now, it can save a lot of pain and headache in the future when older students grapple and struggle with figuring out what to do academically and professionally, having received little guidance otherwise (Shackelford, 2019). This paper will discuss why introducing informatics early in nursing education can have a positive effect on professional development and the healthcare industry overall. It will also include a discussion of how informatics skills and knowledge were used in the process relevance to developing the assignment as well give recommendations for the future in the conclusion.
The Issue
There is currently an increasing demand in the healthcare industry for newly graduated nurses who posses nursing informatics competencies (Shin, Cummings & Ford, 2018). Though nurses’ informatics competencies have been studied in the past, however, Kinnunen, Rajalahti, Cummings and Borycki (2017) show that there remains a problem with regard to what these competencies should be. In other words, there is no clear consensus among professionals or educators when it comes to defining these competencies—it is just known that a greater degree of knowledge of informatics would be helpful since the industry itself is trending ever increasingly towards an informatics-centric way of nursing. One of the big challenges that Kinnunen et al (2017) identify is the lack of eHealth knowledge and its benefits among educators and students alike. What this challenge reveals specifically is that, as Shackelford (2019) points out, not enough is being done to train students for the future of nursing. As Kinnunen et al. (2017) note, students and professionals alike need to be better steered towards understanding and being able to use informatics.
To reach that goal requires significant investment as it is not something that can be entrusted to a single teacher’s competencies alone (Kinnunen et al., 2017). Rather, students should be brought up from an early age to be familiar with the concept of nursing informatics, just as they are introduced to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic at an early age. Introducing the utility and practically of technology in a healthcare setting, so as to prepare them for understanding and acquiring professional skills in informatics, should also be considered by educators tasked with developing curricula (Kinnunen et al., 2017; Shackelford, 2019).
Another issue is that in order to ready and prepare students at an early age for informatics, nurse educators themselves have to improve their competencies in informatics. This would require greater coordination and collaboration between healthcare professionals currently in the field and nurse educators so that by working together they can properly identify nursing informatics needs and issues that should be covered more substantially in early nurse education (Eardley et al., 2018). Risling (2017) argues that some of the informatics issues that nurse educators should be focusing on based on technology trends in the healthcare industry include the use and understanding of electronic health records (EHRs), wearable technologies, and Big Data and data analytics. Risling (2017) also notes that student nurses require more opportunities to study a wide range nursing informatics issues.
Clearly it can be established, therefore, that 1) there is a need both for nurse educators to prepare and provide greater content on nursing informatics for nursing students, 2) nursing students are going to need informatics skills to deal effectively with a technologically-driven nursing field in the coming years, and 3) to streamline the process and make it more efficient, students at a younger age should be given the opportunity to be introduced to informatics so that the groundwork or foundation for learning more is already laid by the time they enter nursing school at the college level.
The Impact
Introducing informatics early on in nursing education can have a big positive impact on future nurses as well as the industry overall. The biggest impact is simply the fact that it prepares future nurses for understanding how information is stored, exchanged, and used to identify trends and make adjustments to practice in the real world of nursing. The earlier that nursing students realize this the more likely they are to know what to expect in a healthcare career: forewarned and is forearmed and if students can obtain a sense of how technology is used in nursing they stand a better chance of making up their mind early on with regard to what type of career path they want to take. This would help nursing students substantially as they would have a head-start in the same way that advanced placement students in high school get a head-start on their college careers by taking AP courses.
In the nursing industry, the impact would also be positive. Instead of having to spend resources (time and money) on training new nurses on how to engage with informatics to perform even the most routine of tasks, the industry would be able to onboard new nurses immediately as they would already but up to speed on how to use electronic health records, how to use wearable devices, the importance of Big Data and data analytics, and so on. The new nurses would have informatics competencies that would make them just as equipped to handle the technological side of nursing as having a cultural competency makes a nurse equipped to handle the human side of nursing in a diverse environment.
As Piscotty Jr, Kalisch and Gracey?Thomas (2015) note, another benefit for the nursing industry would be an increase in the quality of care and safety of practice shown to patients. When nurses are more comfortable with informatics and view them positively as a result of earlier education and training that they received from school, they are more likely to want to use informatics to increase quality care and safety of care for patients (Piscotty Jr. et al., 2015). It is when nurses are unfamiliar with informatics that they are hesitant to use them and will try to avoid them as much as possible out of fear of committing an error, entering wrong information or making a mistake in care and communication. The less training they have coming in the less likely they are to use informatics in a way that benefits the patient. Thus, when nurses can receive training in informatics early on in their education careers, the benefit is ultimately going to be the patient’s.
Of course, as with anything there are going to be pros and cons of making a change of this nature. Thus, it is important to consider some of the negative aspects of introducing informatics in early nurse education as well. These would include the cost of implementation and the fact that time is already limited when it comes to what subjects should receive focus in the class room and what need to be set aside. Making these decisions can lead to resistance, which can be another challenge. Before examining the cons, however, it is worth reviewing the pros.
Pros
As Tubaishat (2019) shows, the use of informatics, such as electronic health records, can improve patient safety—but only if the nurses feel comfortable and confident with them and have experience with and knowledge of using them. Informatics can improve quality of care in the healthcare industry so long as nurses are adequately trained (Eardley et al., 2018; Piscotty Jr. et al., 2015). The industry thus stands to benefit from nurses trained in informatics by the time they onboard, especially since the direction of the industry is trending towards integrating more technology into nursing practice overall.
Since the industry is moving that direction, it is necessary that nurses be prepared to meet the tech-side of the challenge of nursing in the 21st century—i.e., the Digital Age. Whether it is training in the use of telemedicine, eHealth equipment, EHR, wearable devices or data analytics, nurses who receive education in any of these areas of informatics will have a higher asset value to healthcare organizations when they graduate than nurses who have no experience or training with such. For that reason, it is very beneficial for informatics to be introduced in early nurse education.
However, as Shackelford (2019) points out, it is even more important that these skills actually be introduced even before students begin attending nursing school. Informatics should be part of the regular curriculum of students in high school—or should at least be offered as an option so that those young students who may want to learn about the industry can get a head start. This is a great way both to lay the foundation for nursing informatics in the young generation and to help guide young students onto a path of nursing, as left to themselves without guidance they might otherwise never think about a career in the industry.
Cons
The cons of introducing informatics early on is that it will inevitably lead to some other subject being neglected—and making that decision or proving to administrators that the option should at least be made available can prove challenging. Simply finding competent instructors who have a high level of informatics competencies can be a considerable difficulty (Kinnunen et al., 2017). As there has been no standard for informatics competencies established throughout the industry, finding qualified instructors is a problem in and of itself. The educators need to be instructed before the students are and that presents logistical conundrums, as nurse educators will invariably need to coordinate with the professionals.
Then there is the matter of resources: developing a new curriculum that introduces informatics at an early stage in nurse education can require ample investment. Making the case for an overhaul of a curriculum or even promoting a standardized curriculum that includes increased focus on informatics can be difficult when funds are tight or not available at all. Changing the approach to education once the approach has already been established is bound to meet with resistance and it will require transformational leadership skills on the part of nurse leaders to advocate for and oversee this change. With so many nurses already occupied with so many different issues, it is just one more that could easily fall through the cracks. Nonetheless, if it is not addressed, the future of nursing will be badly behind the tech curve (Risling, 2017).
How Informatics Skills and Knowledge Were Used for This Paper
Informatics skills and knowledge were used for the preparation of this paper by first using the computer to conduct searches for information on informatics and the value of introducing informatics at an early stage of students’ academic careers. Google Scholar is an online database search engine that was used: key words associated with the subject were entered in and titles and abstracts of returns were analyzed to see if they fit the criteria for the search. The search parameters included both positive and negative sides associated with nursing informatics and education. After analyzing titles and abstracts, it was possible to select the relevant sources that would assist in the writing of this paper.
Once the sources were read and analyzed, notes were arranged and compiled into an Excel spreadsheet so that a list of pros and cons could be developed more easily. By compiling the data in this manner, it was also easier to see which way the better argument trended. After reviewing the data compiled in the spreadsheet it was simply a matter of transferring that information into the paper in an order determined by the outlined instructions provided.
Summary/Conclusion: Recommendations for the Future
Informatics is and will be an ever-growing part of the nursing industry in the years to come. The big problem that nurses, educators and the industry in general face, however, is the fact that there has been defined competency with regard to what nursing informatics competencies should consist of. There is no consensus among nurse educators and this lack of agreement means that nursing students are entering the professions ill-prepared to integrate informatics into their work. Since technological solutions in healthcare are here to stay, the best recommendations going forward are the following: 1) introduce informatics at a younger age to students so that they become familiar with the concepts, tools and practice of informatics and are better equipped to deal with this subject when they face it in nursing school or in their professional careers; 2) encourage nurse educators to collaborate and coordinate with nurse leaders in the industry to develop a standard informatics competency that schools can use to guide their curriculum development; and 3) devise a new curriculum for nurse educators that will place informatics right alongside all other aspects of nursing practice and care, preferably early on in the education cycle, so that students in turn develop a better understanding of it and are able to be onboarded in a more efficient manner when they enter into their respective nursing fields. Following these recommendations should allow the industry to benefit from the informed-use of informatics and enable patients to receive the kind of safe, quality care they require.
References
Eardley, D. L., Krumwiede, K. A., Secginli, S., Garner, L., DeBlieck, C., Cosansu, G., & Nahcivan, N. O. (2018). The Omaha System as a Structured Instrument for Bridging Nursing Informatics With Public Health Nursing Education: A Feasibility Study. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 36(6), 275-283.
Kinnunen, U. M., Rajalahti, E., Cummings, E., & Borycki, E. M. (2017). Curricula challenges and informatics competencies for nurse educators. Forecasting informatics competencies for nurses in the future of connected health, 232, 41-48.
Piscotty Jr, R. J., Kalisch, B., & Gracey?Thomas, A. (2015). Impact of healthcare information technology on nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(4), 287-293.
Risling, T. (2017). Educating the nurses of 2025: Technology trends of the next decade. Nurse education in practice, 22, 89-92.
Shackelford, S. (2019). Industry Voices—Healthcare is changing. We need to reach the future workforce earlier. Retrieved from https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals-health-systems/industry-voices-healthcare-changing-and-our-educational-approach-should-be
Shin, E. H., Cummings, E., & Ford, K. (2018). A qualitative study of new graduates’ readiness to use nursing informatics in acute care settings: clinical nurse educators’ perspectives. Contemporary nurse, 54(1), 64-76.
Tubaishat, A. (2019). The effect of electronic health records on patient safety: A qualitative exploratory study. Informatics for Health and Social Care, 44(1), 79-91.