ch 46 Flashcards
The staff nurse who uses informatics in promoting quality patient care is most likely to access data in which domain?
a. Certified clinical information systems (CIS)
b. Clinical healthcare informatics
c. Public health/population informatics
d. Translational bioinformatics
ANS: B
Clinical healthcare informatics and the subset, nursing informatics, provides for the development of direct approaches to patients and their families which can be used by the staff nurse to promote quality patient care. Certified CIS refers to the tools for achieving quality outcomes, including electronic health records, clinical data repositories, decision support programs, and handheld devices—not the data. Public health/population informatics is the domain which relates information, computer science, and technology to public health science to improve the health of populations; this domain would provide data for the nurse working with communities. Translational bioinformatics refers to the research science domain where biomedical and genomic data are combined; it is a new term that describes the domain of where bioinformatics meets clinical medicine, generally for healthcare research rather than direct patient care.
When discussing the purposes of healthcare informatics with a nurse during orientation, the nurse educator would be concerned if the nurse orientee stated that which is one purpose of informatics?
a. Develop a cognitive science.
b. Improve disease tracking.
c. Improve the health provider’s work flow.
d. Increase administrative efficiencies.
ANS: A
Cognitive science is one of the theories that play a role in the implementation of informatics. Its development is not a purpose, and the nurse educator would use this incorrect response of the orientee to plan additional teaching about the purposes of healthcare informatics. Purposes of information health technology include to improve health provider work flow, improve healthcare quality, prevent medical errors, reduce healthcare costs, increase administrative efficiencies, decrease paperwork, and improve disease tracking.
To design and implement a decubitus ulcer risk management protocol in the electronic health record, the informatics nurse would first perform which action?
a. Build the screens in the electronic health record.
b. Determine evidence supporting decubitus ulcer risk management.
c. Develop the training program for staff.
d. Select the appropriate standardized language.
ANS: B
Collecting the evidence related to the issue is the first step in addressing a problem (remember the nursing process, the foundation of nursing practice). Based on the evidence, an assessment tool or tools and data needed from a patient perspective would be identified. The screens in the electronic record would be based on the workflow surrounding the patient assessment. A training program could not be developed until the protocol is adopted. The appropriate standardized language is selected based on what needs to be documented and what has been approved for use by the agency (e.g., ANA recognized terminologies).
The application of information processing that deals with the storage, retrieval sharing, and use of healthcare data, information, and knowledge for communication and decision making is the definition of which area?
a. Computer science
b. Health informatics
c. Health information technology
d. Nursing informatics
ANS: C
This is the definition of health information technology. Computer science is a branch of engineering that studies computation and computer technology, hardware, software, and the theoretical foundations of information and computation techniques. Health informatics is a discipline in which health data are stored, analyzed, and disseminated through the application of information and communication technology. Nursing informatics is a specialty that integrates nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice.
The nurse manager of a medical/surgical unit wants to increase the use of healthcare technology on the unit and is working with an ANA-certified informatics nurse to reduce which barriers to health information exchange?
a. Basic informatics knowledge and skills
b. Offering the best set of tools
c. Privacy and security policies
d. Unit-specific terminology
ANS: D
Unit-specific terminology would be a barrier to sharing health information because there could be confusion about terms. Standardized terminology within the electronic health record is critical for communicating care to the interprofessional team and exchanging health information. Competency in informatics including basic informatics knowledge and skills could facilitate the use of informatics; lack of competency could be a barrier. Offering the best set of tools could promote the ease of data entry and access. Privacy and security policies reduce legal and ethical concerns about sharing data, thus reducing barriers to health information exchange.
A nurse is reviewing concepts related to documentation in the electronic health record. Which statement best represents the concept of “meaningful use”?
a. Allows for privacy of information
b. Uses individualized log on for access
c. Completes charting in a timely manner
d. Meets established criteria related to technological use
ANS: D
The concept of “meaningful use” refers to the establishment of criteria related to technological use of the electronic health record as determined by federal guidelines. HIPAA policy mandates privacy of personal information and patient medical records. Use of an individualized log on to access relates to security concerns. Completing charting in a timely manner is an expectation of prudent practice.
Which are exemplars of the health informatics concept?
a. Clinical research informatics
b. Hardware and software
c. Privacy and security
d. Standard terminology
ANS: A
Exemplars of the health informatics concept include clinical healthcare informatics, clinical research informatics, public/population health informatics, and translational bioinformatics. Hardware and software, privacy and security, and standardized information systems and terminology are considered attributes related to the concept, not exemplars.
