Informatics in Nursing and Health Care Nursing informatics will be significant in almost every aspect of nursing and health care as we move forward with the advancements in technology and new government requirements. We know that informatics in health care is a fast growing highway of information from software programs like EPIC to Electronic Health Records. With these advancements, there are benefits to informatics because “doctors, hospitals, and other clinicians who treat patients on Medicare and Medicaid can earn extra payments from the government if they adopt and make "meaningful use" of electronic health records” (Health Affairs, 2010). Therefore, with the increased cost of health care today, these extra payments by the government …show more content…
We as nurses will need to document information pertaining to the nursing process, as in vital signs, medications and any patient teaching provided. I can use informatics to also complete discharge planning along with other communication purposes like SBAR’s and patient transfers. We have to remember though, that with this newfound way of communicating, there are many risk factors involved. One of them is making sure that we do not violate the HIPAA guidelines. The Health Information Protection and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines expand on meeting needs for exchange of protected health information for continues care while requiring informed consent and tracking disclosure of other request for information” (Hebda, T., & Czar, P., 2013). Some ways of making sure not to violate these guidelines is to make sure that we are closing out computers systems that we are working on, showing patient information. Also, when faxing patient information, we need to make sure that it is going to the correct facility and or person. Social media is another big factor to worry about when it comes to patient information. Nurses need to make sure not to post things like pictures or stories about their patients because it can violate HIPAA laws and employer