Technology had already transformed the
healthcare system; therefore, the integration of technology would significantly
and positively impact the quality of the provided services. Nurse leaders and
nurses are key frontrunners in developing the infrastructure for effective and
efficient health information technology that transforms the delivery of care. Therefore,
nurse leaders should have a deep understanding of health information technology
in order to first incorporate it in their own administrative platform and then
provide effective leadership for their hospital, health system, or clinic. The
basic understanding of technology integration will enable nurse leaders to
manage, educate, and engage all the staff. The engagement is not limited on
specific individuals; however, all levels of leadership must be engaged to
embrace and manage the challenge of this change which is new technology
integration in the setting.
There are some initiatives such as the
Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER ) that would help nursing
leadership to integrate technology in their own administrative platform and in
the clinical setting. The Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform ( TIGER ) Initiative represents a comprehensive,
interdisciplinary effort that is well suited to the integration of informatics
into education, practice, administration, and research environments. One of the highest priorities of TIGER summit was to develop
revolutionary leadership that drives, empowers and executes the transformation
of healthcare through the use and integration of technology in addition to
engaging more nurses in the development of a national healthcare information
technology (NHIT) infrastructure.
Leveraging programs such as Leadership Strategies for Information Technology in Health Care that enable nurse leaders and nurses to develop the
organization health IT strategic vision, proactively addressing challenges
posed by the changing health care landscape is significant because it will
support the evolving role of health informatics in healthcare. In addition,
Nurse Leaders should ensure that all practicing nurses adopt and adhere to all
policies and principles of the TIGER initiative while they are “Nurse Leaders”
are adhering to it. Leaders need to promote the
new vision and mission of technology integration among their staff to help them
take ownership of the process. In addition, Nurse Leaders are responsible to
communicate with the staff and provide them with the proper training for any
new implemented technology in order to use it properly and efficiently.
Education and communication will help in fostering an environment that is
receptive to the technology changes being integrated in healthcare setting.
References
Marley, K., Reck, D.
(2006). The Role of Nursing Leadership in Clinical Transformation. Nurse
Leader, 29-33.
Vogelsmeier, A.,
Scott-Cawiezell, J. (2009). The Role of Nursing Leadership in Successful
Technology Implementation. JONA, 39(7/8), 313-314.
Jumanah,
ReplyDeleteThe Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER) executive summary states that nurse’s interaction with technology directly affects evidence-based practice, clinical-decision support tools, and the electronic health record through information systems. I too favor this report, evidence and conclusion developed by nurses in this integration of informatics. Nurses are significant in developing the foundation for effective and efficient health information technology that changes the delivery of care. Nurse involvement in the future of nursing through design, planning, and implementation of technology systems leads to less difficulty during execution (Colorado Nurse, 2011).
Reference
The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. (2011). Colorado Nurse, 111(1), 1-7.