Intro to Nursing Informatics

So, what is health informatics? It's interdisciplinary because it's a combination of information technology
and healthcare. It's the study of technologically-based healthcare software and hardware that's used to
facilitate and enhance patient care and outcomes. Furthermore, nursing informatics (NI) is a subspecialty
of this field that rolls nursing science into the mix. It not only supports nurses, but also other providers,
patients, and stakeholders in decision-making to ultimately enhance healthcare outcomes.
History of Nursing Informatics in the World
But wait, why have you never heard of it before? Let's take a look. When was the beginning of nursing
informatics? When computers began storing and managing our patient information in large amounts,
health informatics was technically born. It was the 1950s, and it was starting to affect the nursing
profession. In the 1960s the French first used the term informatique medical to describe healthcare
informatics.
Nursing informatics became an official subdivision of healthcare informatics in the 1980s. The 80s! As a
high school junior, you can't help but think that was a long time ago, but for many in the healthcare field,
it seems fairly recent. For nursing informatics, the 1980s was the growth-spurt decade which propelled it
into the profession that it is today.
In the United States, the Capital Area Roundtable on Informatics in Nursing (CARING) is a group of
nurses focused on the advancement of information technology in healthcare. It came together in 1982.
Later, the American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) was founded in 1992 and merged with
CARING in 2010.
In 1983, the first journal of nursing informatics went into publication. It was called Computers in
Nursing then, but as of 2002 it was renamed CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing.
The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) recognized nursing as essential to the further
development of healthcare informatics and formed the IMIA/NI-SIG, Nursing Informatics Special
Interest Group in 1982.
In 1989, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) began working on the development of a standardized
nursing informatics language. Then the American Nursing Association (ANA) named nursing informatics
as a specialty in 1992 and issued the first credentialing exam in 1995.
In Canada, the National Nursing Informatics Project was initiated by the Canadian Nursing Association
(CNA) in 1998. It began identifying the defining characteristics of nursing informatics.
1950s - use of computers in healthcare, mostly for financial transactions
1970s - First conference on nursing and computers.
1974 - Informatics papers specific to nursing appear on the national level
1980s - Medical informatics and Nursing Informatics specialty emerges.
1988 - First graduate program in nursing informatics at University of Maryland.
1992 - Nursing Informatics first recognized as a specialty for registered nurses by the ANA.
1995 - First certification exam for nursing informatics.

NURSING INFORMATICS IN THE PHILIPPINES

The word “Nursing Informatics” was made familiar to the Philippine community by the year 2008.
NURSING INFORMATICS IN THE PHILIPPINES BRIEF HISTORY
1996 - Philippine Medical Informatics Society (PMIS) was established which made a very strong
influence in the development of health informatics in the Philippines.
1998 - Faculty members of the University of the Philippines began formal education and training in
medical informatics and information science.
1999 - Standards of Health Information of the Philippines 1999 (SHIP99) was established. It was headed
by National Institute of Health of the UP Manila with the collaboration of Philippine Nurses Association
2005-2006-Health Informatics was offered by UP- Manila College of Medicine (major in medical
informatics) and College of Arts and Sciences (major in bioinformatics)
2008 - Commission on Higher Education Memorandum 5 Series of 2008 defined Nursing Informatics
course in the undergraduate curriculum.
2009 - This was later revised and included as Health Informatics course in CHED Memorandum Order 14
Series of 2009. First Implementation of the integration of Nursing Informatics in the undergraduate
curriculum was on the summer of 2010.
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS
 Lack of devices, machines, resources, and methods of utilizing information, computers, and
nursing science in nursing.
 It is costly to train nurses on the use of the program for electronic documentation.
 Nurse informatics are also scarce in the Philippines.
 Some nurses in the Philippines are computer illiterate.
 Another challenge is, there are two generations of people. The young ones are people that think
differently and the old ones are that are being pushed by the young ones out of their practice.
 The inclusion of informatics as an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum has been one of
the most influential factors for the increased awareness and interest in this field of nursing.
However, the contents of the curriculum were adapted from international materials which does
not match the local needs.
 Lack of certification and credentialing programs in post-graduate levels are also absent with the
scarcity of local nursing informatics experts. This new field has yet to gain acceptance and
recognition in the nursing community as a sub-specialty.

RESOLUTION
As information technology and computing slowly advance HEALTH CARE practices nowadays, there is
seemingly a need to improve the preparation of our nursing students academically and clinically as they
engage themselves with a new concept of Nursing Informatics. Nursing schools across the country has
been implementing the course Informatics. However, there is a need to standardize the contents of the
course being implemented by nursing schools. Theoretical concepts and practical applications should be
aligned so that it may be applicable to the Philippine setting.
1. Need to improve the preparation of nursing students academically and clinically
2. Course should be implemented in nursing schools
3. Need to standardize the contents
4. Theoretical concepts and practical applications should be aligned in the Philippine setting
SYSTEMS PRACTICED IN THE PHILIPPINES HOMIS (Hospital Operation Management and
Information System) Hospitals with HOMIS:
  Baguio General Hospital Medical Center
 Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center (Manila)
 Las Pinas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center
 National Center for Mental Health
 Quirino Memorial Medical Center
 San Lazaro Hospital (Manila)
 Tondo Medical Center (Manila)
 Valenzuela Medical Center
Introduction
The words "nursing informatics" were unfamiliar among the nursing community until the year 2008.
There were only a handful of people with knowledge and experience in nursing informatics. The
discipline has not yet found its recognition as a sub-specialty of nursing arts and science in the country.
The origin of this budding discipline indirectly came from the pioneers of health informatics in the
The Philippine Medical Informatics Society (PMIS) and its founders had strong influence in the
development of health informatics in the Philippines. The PMIA was officially registered under the
Securities and Exchange Commission in 1996 by its board composed of eleven physicians. The
organization was headed by Dr. Alvin Marcelo.
Future Direction
Development of training, certification and credentialing programs are in the pipeline for the Philippine
Nursing Informatics Association. Future partnerships with local and international nursing and health
informatics organizations have started as well. Other programs are expected to be slowly delivered with
PNIA's CORE X strategic platform which stands for Competency, Organization, Recognition,
Experience, and Expertise. It is also a major thrust to support the use of health information standards in
the Philippines and to have nursing informatics specialists in every hospital in the country.
Issues and Challenges
Like many other disciplines, nursing informatics face many challenges while in its infancy stage. The
inclusion of informatics as an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum has been one of the most
influential factors for the increased awareness and interest in this field of nursing. However, the contents
of the curriculum was adapted from international materials which does not match the local needs.

A community-centered approach to the use of information, communication and technology in nursing

practice must be adapted to ensure the impact of the program in the local healthcare system. Lack of
certification and credentialing programs in post-graduate levels are also absent with the scarcity of local
nursing informatics experts. This new field has yet to gain acceptance and recognition in the nursing
community as a sub-specialty.

CHED as a Catalyst
Some of the major milestones in nursing informatics history in the Philippines includes the participation
of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) in the development of Standards for Health Information in
the Philippines (SHIP) in 1999, the formation of the Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI)
which began in 2005, and the formation of the Philippine Nursing Informatics Association (PNIA) in
2010 as a sub-specialty organization of PNA for nursing informatics.
The nursing community was still yet to follow its international counterparts in the adoption of
information, communication and technology in nursing practice in the Philippines. Despite the inclusion
of Informatics course in the undergraduate curriculum which focused on basic desktop applications, the
need for genuine nursing informatics course had not yet been realized. In 2008, Nursing Informatics
course in the undergraduate curriculum was defined by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
Memorandum Order 5 Series of 2008. This was later revised and included as Health Informatics course in
CHED Memorandum Order 14 Series of 2009. This was first implemented in the summer of 2010.
The Philippine nursing community have long sought to keep up with increasing use of information and
technology in the health care system. Nursing Informatics follows the footsteps of biomedical informatics
which has gained relative popularity earlier than its other allied medical counterparts.

Organization
Some of the major milestones in nursing informatics history in the Philippines includes the participation
of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) in the development of Standards for Health Information in
the Philippines (SHIP) in 1999, the formation of the Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI)
which began in 2005, and the formation of the Philippine Nursing Informatics Association (PNIA) in
2010 as a sub-specialty organization of PNA for nursing informatics.
Early in 2009, Mr. Kristian R. Sumabat and Ms. Mia Alcantara-Santiago, both nurses and graduate
students of Master of Science in Health Informatics at the University of the Philippines, Manila began
drafting plans to create a nursing informatics organization. In February 2010, they began recruiting other
nursing informatics specialists and practitioner to organize a group which later became as the Philippine
Nursing Informatics Association.

By the year 2003, a Master of Science in Health Informatics was proposed to be offered by UP-Manila
College of Medicine (major in medical informatics) and the College of Arts and Science (major in
bioinformatics) and was later approved to be offered starting academic year 2005-2006.

In 1999, a study group was formed headed by the National Institute of Health of the University of the
Philippines Manila. This group identified international standards for health information and their
adaptability in the Philippines. The document is referred to as the "Standards of Health Information in the
Philippines, 1999 version" or "SHIP99". Representatives from various sectorscollaborated on this project
including the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) in theperson of Ms. Evelyn Protacio.

Origin
Since 1998, several faculty members of the University of the Philippines began formal education and
training. Dr. Herman Tolentino took a post-doctoral fellowship in medical informatics at the University of
Washington. Dr. Alvin Marcelo followed a year later for his training at the National Library of Medicine.
Dr. Cito Maramba went to Coventry for his Masters in Information Sciences at the University of
Warwick. They were later followed by other physicians such as Dr. Micheal Muin and Dr. Ryan Bañez.
References:

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