NR 512 Week 5 Discussion: Knowledge Generation Through Nursing Informatics
NR 512 Week 5 Discussion: Knowledge Generation Through Nursing Informatics
This week discussion is on APN roles and the application of project management concepts as it relates to NI and whether it applies to my practice or does not. As nursing informatics is constantly evolving and the list of skills that it has accomplished has grown over the years, project management is one of the new concepts to nursing. According to Sipes, project management is one of the most important essential identified, and it impacts all areas of NI skills and provides an organizing framework for processes and projects (2016). Project management includes skills such as design, planning, implementation, follow-up and evaluation (Sipes, 2016). Numerous roles is nursing require project management skills as part of NI like, management, administration, leadership, faculty, graduate level master’s and doctorate practicum courses (Sipes, 2016). Nursing informatics defined by the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) in Sipes as “the specialty that integrates nursing science with information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage and communicate data, information, knowledge and wisdom in nursing practice” (2016). Nursing informatics is supportive to nurses, patients, the interdisciplinary health care team and all stakeholders involved in making decisions to achieve desired outcomes (Sipes, 2016.)
Sipes references that project management was formally recognized as a distinct contribution arising from the management discipline and further discusses how engineering, at the forefront of project management, has become a “key management strategy in in healthcare, where there is a need to put formalized structure and management to organizational tasks” (Sipes, 2016). This process is used in nursing when nurses care for their patients using nursing process. Project management is one of the largest essentials of NI but the least understood. Project management consist of 5 steps.
1.Design/Initiation- (Sipes, 2016)
Plan-(Sipes, 2016)Implementation, Monitor-(Sipes, 2016)
Control and Evaluation-(Sipes, 2016)
5.Lessons Learned-(Sipes, 2016)
The project management skills of NI can be applied universally in many settings and job roles, like for NP which is my field of study to set up and manage clinics. Examples of project management skills include task of: development/implementation of work plans, design/development of systems, function as lead/project manager in all phases of the systems life cycle, and development and implementation of all organizational documents required as a project manager to successfully manage a project (Sipes, 2016). In a previous employment I worked on a renal/pancreas transplant unit and I was involved in creating a plan of care to educate the other staff members on. It involved anatomy and physiology, pharmacology and assessment skills and flow charts to organize care of the patient. It was not imbedded into our traditional documentation system that was on the computer and was in a paper form, however it entailed project management skills to create it. Looking back now this was a clear example of what project management entails. Part of the main reason for me seeking a advanced degree in nursing was to become more involved in direct patient care and the effects that my decision would make on their outcomes. As a registered nurse it can be frustrating and difficult to have to wait on physicians to make changes in your patients plan of care, or to even reach out and contact them, the delay in response can be negative. Becoming a advanced practice nurse with a specialty in NP will allow me to have direct affect on my clinic and patient load and their care.
Reference
Sipes, C. (2016). Project Management: Essential Skill of Nurse Informaticists. Studies In Health Technology And Informatics, 225252-256.
This does sounds like a great project that demonstrates the many leadership roles nurses have in there professional career. Being able to plan, budget, and resolve concerns are many of the great aspects of a project manager. As per our reading, a project manager include skills of good communication, implementation & close monitoring of time and resources, risk management, monitoring resources, and controlling quality. I am not that great with budgeting and finances so this topic is very interesting to me because I like to face my areas I struggle with. As a future nurse practitioner my main focus and interest is primary care and educating my patients on wellness and preventable help practices: diet, exercise, health screening, and learning about family health history in order to become educated advocates of their own health. We as nurses are individuals who constantly put our own help concerns on the back burner in order to care for others either at work or at home. I want to campaign and advocate for health professionals to stop this and realize we are individual too who need to practice what we preach. I have recently been diagnosis with breast cancer and I can truly say I have put off screenings because of my busy lifestyle: working 60 plus hours a week, stress of not being able to take time off, being a single parent of 6, school, so on and so on. This practice I have seen in so many of my colleagues who have suffered greatly and even passed way because of late diagnosis and poor management of illness. So, that is what my future mission as a nurse practitioner: wellness and screening; God welling.
