Nursing Information Pioneers - Essay Example

Nursing Informatics Pioneers affiliation Nursing Informatics Pioneers Task Different pioneers are known for incorporating technology in nursing; however, I am going to talk about Dr. Patricia Abbott and Dr. Marion J. Ball. Dr. Patricia Abbott is best recognized for her initial efforts in assisting to found the nursing informatics. She was part of the Biomedical Computing and Health Informatics Study Section in the United States National Institutes of Health. Dr. Abbott is the founding director of Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery (GANM). GANM is a small bandwidth electronic community of training and part of the World Health Organization Implementing Best Practices (IBP) information gateway. She was part of the Board of Directors of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), the board of editors of Journal of the AMIA, and presently she is in the International Journal of Hispanic Nursing editorial board. Another pioneer of nursing informatics is Marion J. Ball, who is an earlier vice chair of Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). She received the HIMS’ 50 in 50 award that identified the notable achievements to the field of information of health information technology and management systems. She is also a senior editor of the book “Nursing Informatics: Where Caring and Technology Meet”. Finally, she was the president of International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) from the year 1992 to 1995 (Staggers & Thompson, 2002). Task 2 Due to their campaigns to incorporate technology in the health system, Dr. Patricia Abbott and Dr. Ball made the nursing practice to incorporate technology in their healthcare practice. Because of them nurses in the present day no longer require lugging around the heavy reference books so as to refer to any information. Technology in Nursing brought about by this two pioneers and others has made drug references to be downloaded and stored in smartphones and tablets that can be carried around conveniently. Additionally, through technology in healthcare, Telemedicine has been created and doctors and nurses from all over the world can communicate through a robotic platform and share information (Ball & Douglas, 2011). Also, these platforms help to manage the health of a patient remotely. In addition, nurses no longer need to write notes that will be reminding patients of their appointments and also show them their health records as applications have been developed that patients can be reminded of the appointments and also he or she can view his or her medical records online. Finally, technology has brought about portable vein finders that are helping to make the veins of a patient more visible. Through this, a lot of problems and also pain is prevented for both the nurses and patients (Westra & Delaney, 2008). Task 3 Their contributions have shaped the nursing informatics field in numerous ways. First of all, Dr. Abbot as having done a three weeks course in nursing and computer, they decided to start a program at the University Of Maryland with some of her friends. Through this, she became the director of the nursing informatics department, and she was encouraging other nurses who were not aware of the program to enroll and through this the field gained momentum and it was loved by many. Additionally, Dr. Ball’s efforts to computerize a clinical lab system triggered a lot of ideas, and this led to numerous innovations in the health care system that used technology. Also, through her book, she made nurses understand more on the principles of nursing informatics and this made majority of them to seek more knowledge on the field. Their contributions made nurses view how technology will make their work easier and how they will gain from the numerous opportunities technologies come with, and this shaped the informatics field to be part of nursing. Lastly, through their efforts in developing online nursing management, Nursing Minimum Data Set, masters programs in Nursing Informatics (NI), and certification exams in NI led to further development of the NI field (Saba, 2001). Task 4 The foremost lesson I would learn from them is that one should not be afraid to try something new as that may be a step forward in developing something that will be of use in the future. For instance, Dr. Abbot took a course in nursing and computer without even being aware of the meaning of the course to her profession but later it turned out to be an important aspect of her career. She had never been in touch with computers and the course broadened her views hence developing Nursing Informatics. Also, the second lesson is working in teams. If they had not worked in teams, they could not have discovered how informatics was not just a detached entity and, therefore, the field could not be in existent. Therefore, sharing ideas is important and so as to move forward, teamwork is necessary. Additionally, educating and fostering others is good as it ensures there is a future workforce in any field. If the pioneers were mean to find ways on how to educate and foster their young counterparts in the field of nursing, then nursing informatics could not be as strong as it is currently. Task 5 Through the works of these pioneers, some skills can be learned that can help to develop a professional. The first skill that can be applied from these pioneers is the skill of the invention. If it were not for the numerous research activities employed in the field of nursing, the development of a field in nursing informatics would be a dream. An innovation is attained through profound research activities and, therefore, it will be good to apply it in any field if you need to advance your profession. The second skill that can be applied in my professional is the skill in information technology. Technology is of importance since in the current world everything is going digital, and incorporating technology in your professional will help in the development of your profession to fit in the present world. Incorporating technology enables work to be done faster and easily without struggle and a lot of time is saved. Hence, the remaining free time can be used for other important activities that benefit the profession. References Ball, M. J., & Douglas, J. V. (2011). Nursing Informatics: Where technology and caring meet. Technology. Saba, V. K. (2001). Nursing informatics: yesterday, today and tomorrow. International Nursing Review, 48(3), 177–187. Staggers, N., & Thompson, C. B. (2002). The evolution of definitions for nursing informatics: A critical analysis and revised definition. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. http://doi.org/10.1197/jamia.M0946 Westra, B. L., & Delaney, C. W. (2008). Informatics competencies for nursing and healthcare leaders. AMIA ... Annual Symposium Proceedings / AMIA Symposium. AMIA Symposium, 804–808. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2007.05.005 Read More