D029 Narrative Essay: Innovations in Nursing Informatics

Student Name

Western Governors University 

D029 Informatics for Transforming Nursing Care

Prof. Name

Date

Interview with a Nurse Manager on Informatics and Process Improvement

I recently had a conversation with a nurse manager working in the medical/surgical department at my hospital. Although his primary duties do not focus exclusively on informatics, he has demonstrated a strong ability to create and implement new processes that significantly enhance workflow efficiency for his nursing team. During our discussion, I introduced five essential technologies relevant to the initial phase of the Clinical Practice Experience (CPE): health databases, electronic health records (EHRs), telehealth, wearable technology, and clinical decision support systems (CDSS).

When asked about his experience with these technologies, the nurse manager admitted limited exposure to clinical decision support systems and telehealth. However, he has considerable expertise in customizing electronic health records to better align with his team’s specific workflows. For instance, he developed navigators within the EHR system to simplify documentation related to patient admissions, transfers, and discharges. This customization helped reduce the nurses’ charting burden by organizing and streamlining information entry, making the process more efficient.

A notable achievement credited to the nurse manager was leading the development of a discharge summary report designed to shorten hospital stays. This report enables charge nurses to proactively identify patients who are likely to be discharged soon. Charge nurses then collaborate with primary nurses to pinpoint and address any obstacles delaying discharge. Due to these informatics-driven process improvements, the average patient length of stay in his unit decreased dramatically—from over ten days to under six days in just one year. This outcome reflects a significant enhancement in patient care driven by technology-enabled workflow innovations.

Use of Wearable Technology and Patient Safety Concerns

Our conversation also explored the critical role wearable technology plays in inpatient monitoring, particularly cardiac telemetry. The nurse manager recounted a tragic incident involving a patient undergoing an MRI. During the imaging, the telemetry leads and monitoring device had to be removed and were unfortunately not reconnected afterward. By the time the patient returned to the hospital floor, they were found unresponsive and, despite resuscitation efforts, did not survive. The lack of continuous cardiac monitoring made it impossible to determine how long the patient had been unresponsive before discovery.

This sentinel event occurred under the nurse manager’s supervision and became a catalyst for a new hospital policy. The policy requires that any patient on cardiac monitoring who leaves the floor must be accompanied by staff certified in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS). The nurse manager emphasized that while technology offers substantial opportunities to improve patient outcomes and operational efficiency, its safe and correct application is vital to protect both patients and healthcare professionals.

Summary Table of Interview Insights

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).