Write a 4-5 page evidence-based proposal to support the need for a nurse informaticist in an organization who would focus on improving health care outcomes.

As you begin to prepare this assessment, you are encouraged to complete the Team Perspectives of the Nurse Informaticist activity. Completion of this will help you succeed with the assessment as you explore the nurse informaticist’s role from the different perspectives of the health care team. Completing activities is also a way to demonstrate engagement.

Nurses at the baccalaureate level in all practice areas are involved in nursing informatics through interaction with information management and patient care technologies. Nurses must not only demonstrate knowledge of and skills in health information and patient care technologies, but also how to use these tools at the bedside and organizational levels. Moreover, nurses need to recognize how information gathered from various health information sources can impact decision making at the national and state regulatory levels.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Describe nurses’ and the interdisciplinary team’s role in informatics with a focus on electronic health information and patient care technology to support decision making.     
  • Define nursing informatics and the role of the nurse informaticist.
  • Explain how the nurse collaborates with the interdisciplinary team, including technologists, to improve the quality of patient care.
  • Justify the need for a nurse informaticist in a health care organization.
• Competency 2: Implement evidence-based strategies to effectively manage protected health information.     
  • Explain evidence-based strategies that the nurse and interdisciplinary team can use to effectively manage patients’ protected health information (privacy, security, and confidentiality).
• Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication to facilitate use of health information and patient care technologies.     
  • Follow APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.
  • Create a clear, well-organized, and professional proposal that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Scenario

For this assessment, assume you are a nurse attending a meeting of your state’s nurses’ association. A nurse informaticist conducted a presentation on her role and its impact on positive patient and organizational outcomes in her workplace. You realize that your organization is undergoing many technological changes. You believe this type of role could provide many benefits to your organization.

You decide to pursue proposing a nurse informaticist role in your organization. You speak to your chief nursing officer (CNO) and human resources (HR) manager. These individuals ask you to prepare a 4–5 page evidence-based proposal to support the new role. In this way, they can make an informed decision as to whether the addition of such a role could justify the return on investment (ROI). They need your proposal before an upcoming fiscal meeting.

Preparation

To successfully prepare for this assessment, you will need to complete these preparatory activities:

• Review assessment resources and activities.
• Conduct independent research on the nursing knowledge and skills necessary to interact with health information and patient care technology.     
  • Focus your research on current resources available through peer-reviewed articles, professional websites, government websites, professional blogs, wiki pages, job boards, et cetera.
  • Consult the BSN Program Library Research Guide for help in identifying scholarly and authoritative sources. 
• Interview peers in your network who are considered information technology experts.     
  • Ask them about how information technology advances are impacting patient care at the bedside, at the organizational level, and beyond.

Proposal Format

The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and Human Resources (HR) manager have asked you to include the following headings in your proposal and to be sure to address the bullets underneath each heading:

Nursing Informatics and the Nurse Informaticist

• What is nursing informatics?
• What is the role of the nurse informaticist?

Nurse Informaticists and Other Health Care Organizations

• What is the experience of other health care organizations with nurse informaticists?
• How do these nurse informaticists interact with the rest of the nursing staff and the interdisciplinary team?

Impact of Full Nurse Engagement in Health Care Technology

• How does fully engaging nurses in health care technology impact:     
  • Patient care?
  • Protected health information (security, privacy, and confidentiality)?
  • Workflow?
  • Costs and return on investment?

Opportunities and Challenges

• What are the opportunities and challenges for nurses and the interdisciplinary team with the addition of a nurse informaticist role?     
  • How can the interdisciplinary team collaborate to improve quality care outcomes through technology?

Summary of Recommendations

• What are 3–4 key takeaways from your proposal about the recommended nurse informaticist role that you want the CNO and the HR manager to remember?

Additional Requirements

• Written communication: Ensure written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Submission length: 4–5 double-spaced pages, in addition to a title page and references page.
• Font: Times New Roman, 12 point.
• Citations and References: Cite a minimum of 3 current scholarly and/or authoritative sources to support your ideas. In addition, cite a minimum of 1 current professional blog or website to support your central ideas. Current means no more than five years old.
• APA formatting: Be sure to follow APA formatting and style guidelines for citations and references. For an APA refresher, consult the APA Style and Format page on Campus.

For this assessment, you will implement the preliminary care coordination plan you developed in Assessment 1. Present the plan to the patient in a face-to-face clinical learning session and collaborate with the patient in evaluating session outcomes and addressing possible revisions to the plan.

NOTE: You are required to complete this assessment after Assessment 1 is successfully completed.

Care coordination is the process of providing a smooth and seamless transition of care as part of the health continuum. Nurses must be aware of community resources, ethical considerations, policy issues, cultural norms, safety, and the physiological needs of patients. Nurses play a key role in providing the necessary knowledge and communication to ensure seamless transitions of care. They draw upon evidence-based practices to promote health and disease prevention to create a safe environment conducive to improving and maintaining the health of individuals, families, or aggregates within a community. When provided with a plan and the resources to achieve and maintain optimal health, patients benefit from a safe environment conducive to healing and a better quality of life.

This assessment provides an opportunity for you to apply communication, teaching, and learning best practices to the presentation of a care coordination plan to the patient.

You are encouraged to complete the Vila Health: Cultural Competence activity prior to completing this assessment. Completing course activities before submitting your first attempt has been shown to make the difference between basic and proficient assessment.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Adapt care based on patient-centered and person-focused factors. 
  • Design patient-centered health interventions and timelines for care delivered through direct clinical interaction that is logged in the CORE ELMS system.
• Competency 2: Collaborate with patients and family to achieve desired outcomes. 
  • Evaluate learning session outcomes and the attainment of mutually agreed-upon health goals, in collaboration with a patient.
• Competency 3: Create a satisfying patient experience. 
  • Evaluate patient satisfaction with the care coordination plan and progress made toward Healthy People 2020 goals and leading health indicators.
• Competency 4: Defend decisions based on the code of ethics for nursing. 
  • Make ethical decisions in designing patient-centered health interventions.
• Competency 5: Explain how health care policies affect patient-centered care. 
  • Identify relevant health policy implications for the coordination and continuum of care.

Preparation

In this assessment, you will implement the preliminary care coordination plan you developed in Assessment 1 and communicate the plan to the patient in a professional, culturally sensitive, and ethical manner.

To prepare for the assessment, consider the patient experience and how you will present the plan. Make sure you schedule time accordingly.

Instructions

Note: You are required to complete Assessment 1 before this assessment.

For this assessment:

• Complete the preliminary care coordination plan you developed in Assessment 1.
• Present the plan to the patient in a face-to-face clinical learning session. Communicate in a professional, culturally sensitive, and ethical manner.
• Collaborate with the patient in evaluating session outcomes and addressing possible revisions to the plan.

Reminder: The time you spend presenting your final care coordination plan must be logged in the CORE ELMS system. The total time spent in securing individual participation in this activity in Assessment 1 and presenting your plan in this assessment must be at least three hours. The CORE ELMS link is located in the courseroom navigation menu.

Please be advised that the Volunteer Experience form requires that you provide the name and contact information for at least one individual with whom you worked as part of your direct clinical activity. Your faculty may reach out to this individual to verify that you have accurately documented and completed your clinical hours.

Document Format and Length

Build on the preliminary plan document you created in Assessment 1. Your final plan should be 5–7 pages in length.

Supporting Evidence

Support your care coordination plan with peer-reviewed articles, course study resources, and Healthy People 2020 resources. Cite at least three credible sources.

Grading Requirements

The requirements, outlined below, correspond to the grading criteria in the Final Care Coordination Plan Scoring Guide, so be sure to address each point. Read the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.

• Design patient-centered health interventions and timelines for care delivered through direct clinical interaction that is logged in the CORE ELMS system. 
  • Address three patient health issues.
  • Design an intervention for each health issue.
  • Identify three community resources for each health intervention, so the patient may make an informed decision about what resources to use.
• Make ethical decisions in designing patient-centered health interventions. 
  • Consider the practical effects of specific decisions.
  • Include the ethical questions that generate uncertainty about the decisions you have made.
• Identify relevant health policy implications for the coordination and continuum of care. 
  • Cite specific health policy provisions.
• Evaluate learning session outcomes and the attainment of mutually agreed-upon health goals, in collaboration with the patient. 
  • What aspects of the session would you change?
  • How might revisions to the plan improve future outcomes?
• Evaluate patient satisfaction with the care coordination plan and progress made toward Healthy People 2020 goals and leading health indicators. 
  • What changes would you recommend to improve patient satisfaction and better align the session with Healthy People 2020 goals and leading health indicators?