Nursing Informatics Specialist as Clinical Consultants Beyond the EHR – Your Seat at the Table

The increasing number of emerging technologies that healthcare organizations implement are enormous and have an impact on nursing practice. These technological solutions are designed with common themes around improving patient safety, addressing strategic KPIs (key performance indicators), and/or improving clinical workflow efficacies. What is not common is the initial involvement of the nurse informatics specialists (NIS). Kaye reported having early involvement of nursing during the selection process improves the usability and sustained adoption of emerging technologies (2017). This discussion will highlight harnessing the knowledge, skills, and power of the NIS as key clinical consultants and stakeholders at the onset of projects beyond the electronic health record (EHR). Explore the strategic role NIS possesses from a unique perspective of both clinical and technical knowledge to help evaluate new technologies.

When NIS are absent from the decision table, critical elements in a solutions’ success for adoption that impact nursing practice are potentially missed. Their understanding of the current clinical state in collaboration with bedside clinical staff is invaluable. NIS can help improve the very themes that emerging technologies are positioned to address by leading and fostering a culture of transformation. Authors have suggested that having nurses incorporated in the technology selection process can drive clinical staff’s perceptions and acceptance of emerging technologies. The Institute of Medicine’s report (2010) on the future of nursing states that allowing the nurses to practice to the full extent of their education and training will aid the profession to lead change and advance health care. A seat at the table representing the experience of the NIS is essential to achieve this goal.

We will describe some emerging technologies as opportunities to engage the NIS early in the planning process. Additionally, we will discuss the NIS use of lean principles and practical problem solving to critically examine current and future states of practice. Also, we will demonstrate eliminating waste to streamline workflows to improve patient and staff satisfaction with the use of technology. Data illustrates that bedside staff’s perceptions of emerging technologies must be easy to use and provide relevant data. The NIS has an intimate connection to clinical practice to guide decision making at an administrative level, which is vital to achieve project goals while managing expectations. NIS has comfort with the concept of going to the Gemba, identifying clinical bottlenecks that often impair organizations from moving to the next level of performance excellence and obtaining ROI with purchased technologies. We will also examine utilizing consulting skills to impact change management and project success.

Change is constant in today’s complex healthcare environments, yet no stranger to a day in the life of a NIS. They possess a greater appreciation for managing change due to the nature of EHR evolutions. Effective change management can be one of the most impactful elements that drive acceptance or adoption failure of new technologies. This discussion will explore two established change models at work within different organizations, illustrating the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Orlando Scott discloses that he is an employee of Philips Healthcare.