NURS 6051 Assignment – Transforming Nursing and Healthcare Through Technology
NURS 6051 Assignment – Transforming Nursing and Healthcare Through Technology
Nursing Informatics and Patient Safety
In 2011, Mason General Hospital was named by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine as one of the “Most Wired” hospitals in the United States. What makes this particularly significant is that Mason General is a small, 25-bed, rural hospital in the state of Washington. It credits its success to nurse Eileen Ransomer, director of clinical informatics. Under her leadership, the hospital adopted such innovations as visual smart boards where real-time patient information is always available.
According to the magazine, those hospitals designated as “Most Wired” “show better outcomes in patient satisfaction, risk-adjusted mortality rates, and other key quality measures through the use of information technology (IT)” (Mason General Hospital and Family of Clinics, 2012).
Developments in information technology have enabled patients and health care providers to collaborate for quality improvement at an unprecedented level, and nurses have consistently been at the forefront of these efforts. This week you focus on the IOM report “To Err Is Human” and consider how health information technology has helped to address the issues of patient safety and quality health care.
Clinical transformation: Blending people, process, and technology
Together with all of the healthcare reform efforts being considered, the massive adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) nationwide is expanding the focus on reducing costs and improving quality. Many healthcare organizations are embracing the concept of clinical transformation to achieve these goals, but they still require the tools and capabilities to make data available in real time and reduce the burden on scarce resources. These are among the key findings from the HIMSS 2011 Clinical Transformation Survey.1 This is the HIMSS organization’s first industry survey to measure clinical transformation. To ensure respondents had a level foundation for their responses, the following definition was developed.
Clinical Transformation:This involves assessing and continually improving the way patient care is delivered at all levels in a care delivery organization. It occurs when an organization rejects existing practice patterns that deliver inefficient or less effective results and embraces a common goal of patient safety, clinical outcomes and quality care through process redesign and IT implementation. By effectively blending people, processes and technology, clinical transformation occurs across facilities, departments and clinical fields of expertise.
Approximately 175 respondents assessed the degree of clinical transformation within their organizations in terms of measurement, governance and leadership, organizational behavior and data access. Among the key findings:
* Clinical priorities: Nearly half of respondents indicated that their organization was presently focused on ensuring that a fully operational EHR is in place.
* Key drivers for addressing quality metrics: While meaningful use/ARRA is the influence driving which quality metrics to address, the choices made by healthcare organizations are also driven by other federal efforts, The Joint Commission, and other quality initiatives.
* Improved outcomes: Organizations aren’t only using the analysis of clinical and financial data to improve quality and efficiency of care, but to control costs and improve revenue, as well.
* Barriers: Respondents identified the fact that data aren’t captured in discrete fields or defined consistently as key barriers to the capture and use of clinical data for quality metrics.
* Clinical transformation teams: While nurses and physicians are well represented on clinical transformation teams, one-third of respondents noted that these teams were lead by a member of the executive office.
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* Organizational changes: As organizations are evaluating how to use IT to effectively implement clinical and quality improvement efforts, more than 80% are evaluating clinical workflow and process.
* Addressing change management: Three-quarters of respondents rely on education and training to address change management issues.