Administrative Applications of Information Technology for Nursing Managers CHAPTER 27

Nursing Management Today: Challenges, Chances, Choices Ironically, the constituencies shaping healthcare- global leaders, healthcare CIOs and CEOs, vendors and patients- are accidentally jurist in the court of healthcare IT future. They do not care about shaping tomorrow’s future; they just want their problems solve. But because they are such key players, their problems shape healthcare information technology solutions.

Three major issues have an administrative impact of on the workplace, the profession, and the future of nursing managers and administrators. This issues are: - The nursing shortage - Increased demand for patient safety - The need for visibility

The nursing shortage Three primary factors are contributing to the current shortage including: - Steep population growth and an aging population which are increasing the need for health care services - A diminishing pipeline of new students in nursing - An aging nursing workforce

Increased demand for patient safety Patient safety is an international issue. Standards focusing on the patient well being cut across all models of care, categories of disease and health conditions and all types of providers Part of the challenge if measuring outcomes rest in defining what outcome really is. They could relate to individual patient across several encounters or they might measure a system.

Outcome measurement can relate to any of the following areas: - Organizational performance - Clinical effectiveness - Patient satisfaction - Service quality - Appropriateness of care - Patient responses to treatments - Cost of services - Efficiency of services delivered

The need for visibility In the world of prove-it healthcare, if it is not documented, it was not done. If nursing cannot establish its contributions to patient outcomes, nursing becomes invisible and in fiscally tightened market, invisibility can mean expendability. Nursing must have a way to substantiate its role in healthcare process and its vitality outcomes.

Nursing management administrative needs The rapid proliferation of nursing information systems compels nursing to face the vast challenge to learn and working within the age of technology. IT influences the manner in which practice, how they are educated and the methods of providing and documenting patient care. Two level of nursing administrator: Nurse manager Nurse executive

Application and Implication of Information Technology for Nursing management Nursing information system- A software system that automates the nursing process from assessment to evaluation, including patient care documentation. It also includes a means to manage the data necessary for the delivery of patient care

The Real cost of administrative system To determine the true cost of automation, one must take three things into account: Cost of hardware and software Cost of education Intellectual resources

The Need for Nursing Data Standards Several years after developing practice standards, ANA establish the Nursing Information and Data Set Evaluation Center (NIDSEC) to create and disseminate standards for information system.

How Nursing Benefits from Information Technology Nursing administrative system falls into three basic categories: Strategic Operational Tactical In general they help nursing: Improve communication Improve order entry Improve continuity of care Spend more time on patient care Guide critical thinking Tap into expert resources Evaluate care

Specific Computer Applications for Nursing Administrators and Managers Nurse Managers’ Data Needs Allocating available resources to provide efficient and effective nursing care and implementing clinical nursing services Providing input into executive-level decisions and collaborating with the nurse executive and others Planning, organizing, implementing and controlling the of individuals and aggregates across the spectrum of healthcare settings Nurse Executives’ Data Needs Managing organized nursing services and the environment in which clinical nursing is practice Ensuring that standards of nursing practice are established and implemented and are consistent with standards of professional organization and regulatory agencies Evaluating care delivery models and of services provided to individuals and aggregates

Evidence-Based Nursing Is the process by which nurses make clinical decisions using the best available research evidence, their clinical expertise and their patient preferences. Three areas of research competence are: interpreting and using research, evaluating practice and conducting research

What Nursing Administrator Need to know about Selecting a System The system must include the following: Networkwide information access Networkwide master patient index User-friendly system interface Interface engines for system communications Data repositories to facilitate data sharing Specialized manage care software Standards

IT’s influence will be seen primary in three things: Systems for data comparison Software for longitudinal patient records Standardization on a limited number of application vendors IT’s influence will be seen primary in three things: New-breed clinical information systems Open systems Patient-centered care

Nursing Administration’s role in IT implementation Nursing responsibility is to make sure that organizations understand the value of these system and despite what organizations may say about nursing systems, they can and do have value in the new healthcare equation

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