The Pros And Cons Of Nursing Informatics

Imagine life without your computer, cell phone or laptop, email or access to a fax machine. Some may even call the 21 century the century of technology. Our everyday living is base around something computerized. Electronic technology is used to simplify and organized complex task. Informatics is used the same way to manage data and streamline communication. This paper will define informatics in nursing, provide the example of informatics uses in different healthcare settings, pros, and cons, and the impact nursing informatics has on future healthcare. Nursing informatics is the practice of utilizing data, information technology, clinical expertise nursing and science research to improve patient care outcomes. Nursing informatics help organizes large amounts of data,
In the clinical setting, informatics is beneficial in decreasing redundant documentation, improving communication between the interdisciplinary team, tracking data to be used in quality improvement, aid in generating a plan of care. The nurse manager can use informatics to create schedules and analyze department budgets. In general nursing, informatics is most beneficial to the patient because it allows health provider more time to focus on the patient rather paper work.
Knowing all the benefits of informatics one must ask what could be the disadvantages. One concern is finding staff that can incorporate technology into their practice. Then the cost of software and staff training must be taken into consideration. Another issue of concern is patient privacy Patient records should be kept confidential, and although electronic documents are monitored through secured sites, there is still the risk of hackers. In my opinion, I believe this may be a barrier to some individual utilizing patient portal because they fear their information being