Define And Explain Nursing Informatics

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Define And Explain Nursing Informatics

We’re often asked to explain what nursing informatics is. While it’s difficult to quickly summarize this complex field, at its core, it takes the clinical and the technical languages of health and translates them into one. It also promotes meaningful, user-friendly and patient-centric innovation while driving improved outcomes for patients and enhanced clinical workflows for healthcare staff.

What is Nursing Informatics Definition?

The definition provided by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and recommended by HIMSS has become widely referenced in response to the question, “What is nursing informatics?”

Nursing informatics “is the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage and communicate data, information, knowledge and wisdom in nursing practice.”

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As a global advisor and thought leader in healthcare information and technology, HIMSS has focused on this professional field for decades. Understanding the integral role this specialty plays today in the healthcare workforce, we’ve worked to amplify awareness by convening the experts and conducting extensive research on the topic Define And Explain Nursing Informatics.

What Are Nursing Informatics Roles and Requirements?

If you’re looking to venture into this field of informatics, there are a variety of different skills and qualifications that can help ensure your success:

  • A bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN), at minimum
  • A master’s degree and certifications, particularly for executive roles (chief nursing informatics officer)
  • Experience and/or strong understanding of working in a clinical setting
  • Strong technical skills; ability to quickly adapt to emerging technologies and innovation
  • Strong project management skills
  • An affinity for obtaining, analyzing and strategizing about data
  • Understanding of medical economics
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Leadership experience Define And Explain Nursing Informatics

Here are a few of the many job titles in use today:

  • Nurse informaticist
  • Nursing informatics specialist
  • Nursing informatics clinician
  • Clinical nurse informatics specialist
  • Chief nursing informatics officer
  • Perioperative informatics nurse

The field of nursing informatics has helped drive healthcare’s application of technologies such as EMRs and computerized provider order entry. Nursing informatics professionals work with a diverse group of stakeholders across the care continuum, ultimately helping to bridge the gap between clinical and technical perspectives. Their number one priority is maintaining focus on patient safety.

This role was included in the top 15 highest paying nursing professions in the U.S. The HIMSS Nursing Informatics Workforce Survey, led by the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Committee, unveiled a multitude of findings about the profession:

  • Over two-thirds (68%) of the 1,359 survey respondents work for a hospital or multifacility health system
  • Ambulatory nurse informaticists are on the rise, with 6% of respondents reporting the ambulatory environment as their primary work place
  • The percentage of respondents (66%) who have a master’s degree in nursing (24%), nursing informatics (27%), or some other field (11%) has gone up
  • The role of chief nursing informatics officer/senior nursing informatics officer continues to be on the rise with 41% of respondents reporting that their organization had the formal role

Overall, the results of the survey indicated that most professionals are burning bright with potential. After all, these findings confirm that many make higher wages than the average nursing professional, they enjoy the work they do, and many of them plan to keep doing it in the future Define And Explain Nursing Informatics.