News Feature | May 1, 2015

Informatics Nurses Provide ‘High Degree Of Impact' On Quality Of Care

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

BYOD Nurses

The 2015 HIMSS Impact of the Informatics Nurse survey demonstrates important role they play in driving patient safety and workflow improvement.

The 2015 HIMSS Impact of the Informatics Nurse Survey reveals informatics nurses bring value to the use of clinical systems and technologies at their healthcare organizations. According to the survey, informatics nurses provide the greatest value in the implementation phase (85 percent) and optimization phase (83 percent) of the clinical systems process. The web-based survey polled 576 individuals with a job title of Director or higher, informatics nurse, or clinician between November 17, 2014 and January 24, 2015.

The 2015 survey, supported by the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Community, supplements research conducted in 2009 designed to evaluate the impact of informatics nurses on healthcare information technology environments. The current survey examines how these nurses impact the clinical systems process, quality of care, and their relationship with emerging technologies.

“It is clear that informatics nurses will continue to be instrumental players in the analysis, implementation, and optimization of advanced information systems and emerging technologies that aim to improve the quality of patient care, while reducing costs,” HIMSS said in a press release.

The report found informatics nurses:

  • Have direct positive impact on quality of patient care, with 60 percent of respondents reporting they have a high degree of impact on quality of care.
  • Have a high degree of impact on workflow, patient safety, and user acceptance in regard to clinical systems.

The study also found that 23 percent of respondents said their organizations hired informatics professionals prior to 2000 and 61 percent work for an organization that has an informatics professional in a leadership position. Additionally, 20 percent report their organization has a Chief Nursing Information Officer (CNIO).

Informatics nurses were also identified by 70 percent of respondents as providing assistance with medical device integration, and more than half reported informatics nurses would play a role regarding smart devices.

“The 2015 Impact of the Informatics Nurse Survey showcases the positive influence informatics nurses are having on improved quality and efficiency of patient care,” said Joyce Sensmeier, VP of Informatics for HIMSS. “We are going to continue to see the role and use of technology expand in healthcare and the demand for nurses with informatics training will grow in parallel. As clinicians further focus on transforming information into knowledge, technology will be a fundamental enabler of future care delivery models and nursing informatics leaders will be essential to this transformation.”