EMPOWERING NURSES TO WORK MORE EFFICIENTLY

SMOOTHING OUT THE WORKFLOW

Implementing  an Electronic Health Record (EHR) will transform the flow of patients as well as the workflow of the health care providers within their organization. Transformation of health care includes boosting quality of care, patient safety , as well as magnifying access to care and minimizing the cost of care (Chaiken, 2011).  The importance of effective workflow in delivery of care is pertinent in improving healthcare. 

Workflow is the structure of physical and mental tasks performed by various people within and between work environments (Broberg, 2012).  Anytime you make a change to your practice, especially when implementing health IT, the workflow associated with clinical and practice management processes will change.


Please click the link to learn more about workflow

View the video below to learn more about the EHR



When technology fail to adequately support the goal or the flow of the care team, it often causes workaround workflows.  In mapping out current workflows and analyzing how  my organization gets work done, I have discovered  an area that can use some improvement. There is a delay in patient care when staff have to put in a username and password to access patient medications and information.  For that I reason, I think the staff should be able to use fingerprinting to access the omnicell as well as the medication cart at a faster rate which would improve the workflow.   This would also prevent anyone from stilling your password, making it safer for everyone.  Ultimately, we would see an increase in the quality of care as well as patient satisfaction since the patients can get the meds at a quicker rate.

 

 

          

References

Broberg, J. (2012). How does workflow management impact the bottom line and the quality of patient care?. Health Management Technology, 33(3), 27.

 

Chaiken B (2011). Transforming Health Care Through Improved Clinician Workflows. Retrieved from www.ihealthbeat.org

 

What is work flow? Retrieved from http://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/workflow-assessment-health-it-toolkit/workflow

SUPPORT OF NURSING EXCELENCE

NURSE LEADERS IMPOWERMENT IN HEALTHCARE IT 

 

 

 

Nurse leaders must be Knowledgeable, strong risk-taking nurse leaders who follow an articulated philosophy in the day-to-day operations of the nursing department (ANCC, 2003).  As an upcoming and fast-growing field driven by government goals for electronic health records to improve patient safety, nurse leaders play a vital role in assisting their team members navigate electronic health systems.  They find it to be  a gratifying specialty with an enormous mandate for their expertise.  Nurse leaders can ultimately bridge the communication gap between the clinical and Information Technology world (Woods, 2012). 

  

Similar to any other situation, change is difficult.  Nurse leaders will encounter many obstacles in enforcing and integrating new technology with the compassionate part of nursing.  While trying to make sure that the human element is not lost in the race to expand technology (Huston, 2014), nurse leaders must be able to  balance the human element with technology, balance cost and benefits, train a technology enabled nursing workforce and assure ongoing competency, as well as assure that technology use is ethical (Huston, 2013).

 

For more information click:Nurse leaders and Technology

 

 

Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (2012, April). 2012 HIMSS ANALYTICS REPORT: Quality and Safety Linked to Advanced Information Technology Enabled Processes. Retrieved February 15, 2015from www.himssanalytics.org

 

Huston, C. (2014). Technology in the health care workplace: Benefits, limitations, and challenges In Professional issues in nursing: Challenges and opportunities (3^rd ed). Philadelphia: Lippincott,Williams, & Wilkins. Retrieved February 16, 2015 from www.lww.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Professional-Issues-in-Nursing

 

Huston, C., (May 31, 2013) "The Impact of Emerging Technology on Nursing Care: Warp Speed Ahead" OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 18 ( 2,)

 

 Miliard, M. (2012, April 24). Meaningful use still a challenge despite strides, say hospitals. Healthcare IT News. Retrieved from www.healthcareitnews.com/news/meaningful-use-still-challenge-despite-strides-say-hospitals

 

Woods, D (2012). Nurse Informaticists Making a Difference in Health Care IT. Retrieve Febuary 14, 2015 from http://www.nursezone.com/Nursing-News-Events/more-news/Nurse-Informatics-

HUMAN TECHNOLOGY INTERFACE AND NURSING

IS TECHNOLOGY THE NEW BRAIN OF NURSING?

 

 

 

The Significance of Human Technology Interface

 

Human technology interfaces becomes the problem solver to an array of challenges in a variety of areas and capitalizes on the power of information and knowledge for the goods of mankind.  Technologies can make individuals feel stronger and more confident through superior interfaces with advanced computing devices that increase collaboration with each other and collaboration with human to machine and extend human potential. . These technologies can enhance our everyday lives as well as modify who we are as human beings, and forever shape and improve the quality of life as we know it.

 

 

 

 

  

One example how human- technology interface is enhancing improved patients outcome while at the same time, supporting a connected and caring relationship between the nurse and the patients is through the "Patient Portal". Patients portals enables the patient to have access to their medical records, appointments, as well as reminders at anytime and anywhere. This allows the patient to be more aware of what is going on about their health and ultimately ends up changing/improving their lifestyle for the better.

 

 

 Click on the links below to further explore the world of Human Technology Interface

 

Human technology Interface

 

History of Human Technology Interaction

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

A UNIVERSAL CODE OF STANDARD IN HEALTHCARE

 

 LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes)

Since different systems have a dissimilar way of pinpointing the same concept, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has adopted the Logical Observation Identifiers Name and Codes (LOINC) version 2.27, and made this a requirement for Electronic Health Records technology to be certified as a meaningful user (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services n.d.)

LOINC came into existence in 1994 by the Regenstrief Institute as a universal code of standard that enables data collection, exchange, and processing of test results (Gillette, 2005).  LOINC laboratory test results are identified in an inclusive and constant manner, base on the characteristics of component, property, time, system or specimen, scale or precision and method. Each distinctive arrangement of these six sections c a unique laboratory result and is given a unique LOINC identity code( Nuebert et al, 2013)

 

As a vocabulary norm for clinical and laboratory observation, LOINC contributes to cost reduction without compromising quality or patients safety, as well as  improve quality of healthcare and  health outcomes (Gillette, 2005).

  

 

 

Healthcare and its universal code

  

 

LOINC code and name structure

 

References

 

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2015) Retrieved January 31, 2015 from http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/ReportingCQMsin2015.html

 

Gillette, B. (2005). Integrating lab results into analytic databases can yield valuable information. Managed Healthcare Executive, 15(6), 34-36.
 

Neubert, A., Dormann, H., Prokosch, H., Bürkle, T., Rascher, W., Sojer, R., & ... Criegee-Rieck, M. (2013). E-pharmacovigilance: development and implementation of a computable knowledge base to identify adverse drug reactions. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 69-77.