Title: How Nurses Are Using Health Informatics to Improve Patient Care - Electronic Health Reporter
Headings: How Nurses Are Using Health Informatics to Improve Patient Care
How Nurses Are Using Health Informatics to Improve Patient Care
Improved Documentation
Reduced Medical Errors
Reduced Costs
Improved Coordination of Care

Content: How are nurses using informatics as a way to improve the care they — and their colleagues — provide to patients? As it turns out, there are several key ways that informatics is part of that effort. Improved Documentation
Documentation has long been considered an important part of the nursing profession, but it’s more vital than ever to the delivery of quality care. While the theory and practice of nursing, the standards of nursing practice, legal and ethical considerations, and other points that are taught in advanced nursing programs all influence the practice of nursing, it’s information, and specifically, electronic documentation, that is having the greatest influence on modern nursing. Modern nursing care is driven by individual patient needs and history — information that is collected and organized in electronic patient records. By documenting a patient’s condition, and sharing that information electronically, nurses are able to more effectively manage care, and by extension, improve the quality of that care. A great deal of documentation takes place automatically thanks to connected devices, which collect specific information in real time and transmit it to patient records. By looking at the documentation of a patient’s condition over time, nurses can make better decisions about how to provide care and when changes or adjustments need to be made. Reduced Medical Errors
Patient safety is a primary concern of any health care provider, and nurses are often on the front lines of ensuring that their patients are kept safe and preventing medication errors, misdiagnoses, falls, and other problems. Health informatics provides important data that can prevent these errors;