“It is our duty to love the unloved, help the helpless, and bring hope to the hopeless.

”
-Anthony Douglas Williams

1. Explain how Nursing Informatics called an differentiated and interdisciplinary practice.

Answer:
Nursing informatics brings an added dimension to nursing practice that focuses on
knowledge and skill in information management techniques. Furthermore, Nursing
Informatics practice differentiates itself from other areas of nursing practice but
emphasizes its interaction with informatics disciplines such as mathematics, statistics,
linguistics, engineering, computer science, and health informatics.

2. Discuss how someone can get a specialty practice in Nursing informatics? What are the
preparations?
Answer:
 To become a specialty, it was necessary for NI to show that educational programs
are available to prepare nurses to practice in the field.
 The Division of Nursing (DN), Health and Humans Services Administration
 (HRSA) founded two Master’s NI programs and one Doctoral program  in NI at
the University of Maryland.
 In 1997 an NI specialty program open at New York University and in 1998 a
specialty program was implemented at Duquesne University at Pittsburgh.
 In her discussion of specialization, Styles included for identifying a research focus
as one criterion for a specialty.
 A final requirement for a specialty is representation by at least one organization.
 Within nursing, there is organizational support in the American Organization of
Nurse Executives.
3. Discuss about Healthcare Policy Impact on Nursing Informatics Practice
Answer:
a. Nursing shortage and Nursing Informatics
 Nursing has experienced a number of shortages in recent history.
• An older nursing workforce
• A higher ratio of older associate degree graduates
• The availability of more attractive career opportunities for women
• Decreased interest in nursing as a career difficult work environments.
 Unless something is done the shortage will rise from 6% in 2000 to 29% in
2020 or more than 800,000 nurses short of the number needed.
 The Bureau of Labor Statistics As Phase 2 of the AAN technology project
began, staff nurses from three hospitals in Virginia and California were asked
to identify or verify the most difficult aspects of their practice and how
technology would improve those tasks.
 As the project continues, systems will be designed, implemented, and tested to
determine their effect on nurses’ work.
 It is up to NI specialists to help design and implement IT systems that will
finally assists nurses in their practice and to validate the results thru research.
 (BLS) is predicting registered nurse positions will increase more than 600,000
between 2002 and 2012. To cover these new positions and replace retiring
nurses 1.1 million more nurses are needed by 2012.
 Although these numbers differ it is clear that without intervention the
healthcare industry is headed for a major crisis in the nursing workplace.
 Schools and colleges of nursing have shortened program lengths and instituted
accelerated program for those who already hold a baccalaureate degree in an
attempt to increase nursing workforce numbers.
 Nursing organizations have been actively advocating for increased federal
funding to expand programs and increase loans, scholarships, and incentives.
  In 2002 the AAN Commission on Workforce launched a multiphase project to
develop IT that will help support nurses in their day to day work.
 In Phase 1, interdisciplinary, creative thinkers were assembled to determine
how technology could be use to facilitate nurses’ work.
 Bradley (2003) indicated that technology solutions should improve existing
care processes and outcomes, increase access thru the use of portable
handheld devices, incorporate Internet capability to overcome distance
barriers of care and improve access to knowledge acquisition.
 These authors also advocate for using bar-coding of medications, use of
speech recognition, and fine tuning the user interface of systems to support
nurses.
b. Patient safety and Nursing Informatics
Answer:
 Patient safety is one of the driving forces in increased clinical automation.
 National events have placed IS at the forefront of health policy. The impact of
the first two IOM reports on patient safety has been discussed.
 An additional IOM report Patient Safety states even more emphatically those
electronic medical records, using standard data elements, are a critical tool to
improve patient safety.
 A 2001 report from the President’s Information Technology Advisory
Committee (PITAC) highlighted key issues in IT.
 PITAC indicated that the United States lacks broadly disseminated and
accepted national vision for IT in healthcare and recommended the
appointment of a senior IT person to provide strategic leadership.
 On April 27, 2004, President George W. Bush issued an executive
order  “Incentive s for the Use of Health Information Technology
Coordinator” that has the potential to impact every healthcare entity,
provider, and NI professional in the United States( Executive Order 2004).
4. Discuss the National Informatics Initiatives and Nursing Informatics:
a. Executive Order for National Interoperable Information System

Components of the order are:

 Establish a national health information technology coordinator position.
 Work to develop a nationwide interoperable health infrastructure
 Develop, maintain, and direct implementation of a strategic plan to guide
implementation of interoperable health IT in both public and private sectors.
 The interoperable health IT should reduce medication errors, improve quality,
and produce greater value for healthcare expenditures.
b. National Health Information Infrastructure
 This voluntary initiative, involving a three stage process over 10 years, is
intended to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and overall quality of health
and healthcare in the United States.
 NHII calls for comprehensive knowledge-based networks that integrate
clinical, public health and personal health information to improve decision
making by having information available to providers.
c. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is
a federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect
sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s
consent or knowledge. The US Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) issued the HIPAA Privacy Rule to implement the requirements of
HIPAA. The HIPAA Security Rule protects a subset of information covered
by the Privacy Rule.
5. What is the National Agenda for Nursing Informatics?
Answer:
Nursing Informatics facilitates the integration of data, information, and knowledge to
support patients, nurses, and other providers in their decision-making in roles and settings
thru the use of information structures, information processes and IT.
 6. What is Telehealth?
Answer:
Telehealth is the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to
support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related
education, public health and health administration. Technologies include
videoconferencing, the internet, store-and-forward imaging, streaming media, and
terrestrial and wireless communications.

References
DiViArL(karl). (2011, May 24). AlL aBoUT nUrSiNg InFoRmAtIcS. Retrieved from Blogger:
http://karlrufosumatra.blogspot.com/2011/05/nursing-informatics-and-healthcare.html

ONC. (2019, October 17). What is telehealth? How is telehealth different from telemedicine? Retrieved
from HealthIT.gov: https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-telehealth-how-telehealth-different-
telemedicine