Nursing and Informatics for the 21st Century – Embracing a Digital World, 3rd Edition, Book 1: Realizing Digital Health – Bold Challenges and Opportunities for Nursing
2022 Productivity Press: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003054849
Chapter 8
Authors: Sheila Ochylski, Rebecca Freeman
Informatics is the information ecosystem that incorporates evidence-based practice and data-driven health care technology within the unique culture of a health system to create a highly reliable organization. A mature, empowered nursing informatics team is fueled by a combination of interdependent processes with synergistic partnerships that deliver high value. Implementations of electronic health records (EHRs) that replaced paper-based processes have become universal. The nursing informatics domain does not simply consist of EHR implementations and support. It has expanded to include connected devices, cognitive computing, patient-facing technologies, telehealth, and the continued integration of traditional informatics technology (IT). In today’s health care environment, data fuels transformation and the evolution of data-driven health care is accelerating. With a strong emphasis on people, process, technology and culture, this chapter will review the history of health IT and nursing informatics in large health systems and summarize the journey of transformation of nursing informatics within the Department of Veterans Affairs and other non-VA large health care systems. Together, the authors have over 50 years of health care experience within complex health care organizations and large government entities, with a focus on change management and EHR implementations. They will offer their vision for what nursing informatics could be in large health system’s drive towards organizational excellence and exemplary patient outcomes, where technology supports the best practice pathways of extraordinary care teams.