NURS 6051S week 4: The Impact of Nursing Informatics on Patient Outcomes and Patient Care Efficiencies

NURS 6051S week 4: The Impact of Nursing Informatics on Patient Outcomes and Patient Care Efficiencies

Introduction:

The proposed project endeavors to mitigate interruptions during medication administration, aiming to curtail medication errors and enhance patient safety within healthcare settings. These interruptions pose a significant risk, leading to medication administration errors despite best practices (Mortaro et al., 2019). Annually, approximately 7,000 patients suffer preventable medication errors. The project adopts a grassroots approach, focusing on reducing interruptions and increasing awareness among nursing staff about the risks these interruptions pose during medication administration. The aim is to diminish interruption rates and, consequently, the occurrence of medication errors. To measure the impact of this intervention, the project will employ a pre-and post-intervention observational study, utilizing direct observation (Harris et al., 2016).

Trends in Healthcare Information Technology

Stakeholders:

This project caters to several stakeholders, each with unique interests:

1. Patients/Consumers:

The primary beneficiaries, patients are becoming increasingly engaged in their healthcare. They should be kept informed as the project directly influences their health outcomes.

2. Academia:

The project’s results can be integrated into healthcare education, ensuring future healthcare professionals develop the critical thinking skills required for safe medication administration.

3. External Health Care Stakeholders:

Licensing, accrediting, and regulatory bodies can utilize the project’s results to establish and enforce safety standards within healthcare settings.

4. Health Care Organizations and Leaders:

Healthcare organizations and their leadership should incorporate the project’s findings into patient safety goals, mission statements, and practice standards and protocols.

5. Medical Practitioners:

Healthcare providers will benefit from up-to-date information on patient safety, allowing them to maintain competencies and enhance patient safety in their practice (Zaccagnini & White, 2017).

Patient Outcomes and Efficiency Improvements:

This project’s primary objective is to minimize interruptions during medication administration, subsequently reducing the proportion of medication errors. By educating nurses and healthcare staff about the risks linked to interruptions during medication administration, the project aims to heighten awareness, develop effective strategies to manage interruptions, and minimize their impact on medication administration. The expected result is an improved level of patient safety and care quality achieved by reducing the occurrence of medication errors.

Technologies Required:

Three essential technologies are needed to execute this project:

1. Training Material:

This encompasses educational content, resources, and materials designed to inform healthcare personnel about the risks associated with interruptions during medication administration. It may include trainers, educational materials, posters, and presentations.

2. Electronic Medical Records (EMR) System:

Access to an EMR system is vital for collecting data on medication errors, along with other relevant variables, and tracking the intervention’s impact.

3. Data Analysis Software:

A data analysis software tool is indispensable for evaluating the correlation between variables and identifying areas where interventions will yield the most substantial benefits (Harris et al., 2016).

Project Team and Role of the Nurse Informaticist:

The project team comprises three key roles:

1. Project Manager:

Responsible for overall project management, coordination, and ensuring the project’s successful implementation. This role involves coaching the team, liaising with organizational management, and overseeing project phases.

2. Training Analyst:

This role focuses on designing and delivering training materials to effectively convey the project’s concepts and ideas related to medication administration safety.

3. Nurse Informaticist:

The nurse informaticist plays a pivotal role in managing the project’s data requirements. They identify the necessary data variables for assessing medication errors and the impact of interventions. Additionally, the nurse informaticist evaluates project data and communicates the results to project leaders and stakeholders, emphasizing the implications for the organization (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018).

Incorporating the nurse informaticist into the project team ensures that data-related aspects are managed effectively and that insights from data analysis inform decision-making and assess the project’s impact. The nurse informaticist’s expertise in data management and healthcare informatics is critical for the project’s success.

References

Bemker, M., & Schreiner, B. (Eds.) (2017). The DNP Degree & Capstone Project: A Practical Guide. DEStech Publications, Inc.

Harris, J., Roussel, L., Thomas, P., & Dearman, P. (2016). Project Planning & Management: A Guide for Nurses and Interprofessional Teams. Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4^th ed.). Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Mortaro, A., Pascu, D., Pancheri, S., Mazzi, M., Tardivo, S., Bellamoli, C., … & Moretti, F. (2019). Reducing interruptions during medication preparation and administration: An improvement project. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 32(6), 941-957. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-12-2017-0238

Snipes, C. (2016). Project Management for the Advanced Practice Nurse. Springer Publishing Company.

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2020). Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care in the Community. Elsevier, Inc.

Zaccagnini, M., & White, K. (Eds.) (2017). The Doctor of Nursing Practice Essentials: A New Model for Advanced Practice Nursing (3^rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

NURS 6051S week 4: The Impact of Nursing Informatics on Patient Outcomes and Patient Care Efficiencies

In the Discussion for this module, you considered the interaction of nurse informaticists with other specialists to ensure successful care.

How is that success determined?

Patient outcomes and the fulfillment of care goals is one of the major ways that healthcare success is measured. Measuring patient outcomes results in the generation of data that can be used to improve results. Nursing informatics can have a significant part in this process and can help to improve outcomes by improving processes, identifying at-risk patients, and enhancing efficiency.

To Prepare:

• Review the concepts of technology application as presented in the Resources.
• Reflect on how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence may help fortify nursing informatics as a specialty by leading to increased impact on patient outcomes or patient care efficiencies.

The Assignment: (4-5 pages not including the title and reference page)

In a 4- to 5-page project proposal written to the leadership of your healthcare organization, propose a nursing informatics project for your organization that you advocate to improve patient outcomes or patient-care efficiency. Your project proposal should include the following:

• Describe the project you propose.
• Identify the stakeholders impacted by this project.
• Explain the patient outcome(s) or patient-care efficiencies this project is aimed at improving and explain how this improvement would occur. Be specific and provide examples.
• Identify the technologies required to implement this project and explain why.
• Identify the project team (by roles) and explain how you would incorporate the nurse informaticist in the project team.
• Use APA format and include a title page and reference page.
• Use the Safe Assign Drafts to check your match percentage before submitting your work.