NURS FPX 4045 Assessment 1 Nursing Informatics in Health Care

Name

Capella university

NURS-FPX4045 Nursing Informatics: Managing Health Information and Technology

Prof. Name

Date

Nursing Informatics in Health Care

Integrating a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) into healthcare organizations is essential for enhancing patient outcomes and safety. CDSS technology significantly contributes to improving diagnostic accuracy, refining treatment protocols, and supporting clinical decisions (Laraichi et al., 2024). The implementation of this system requires skilled Nurse Informaticists (NI), who play a vital role in minimizing clinical errors, delivering real-time medication alerts, and ensuring overall patient safety.

In nursing practice, informatics merges nursing science with information technology to improve the delivery of healthcare. Nurse Informaticists are equipped with both clinical and technological expertise and serve as intermediaries between IT systems and clinical practice (Nashwan et al., 2025). They oversee the implementation of tools like CDSS, train healthcare personnel, and develop strategies for data-informed decision-making. Notably, Dr. Virginia Saba contributed to this field by developing the Clinical Care Classification (CCC) system to enhance documentation precision (Lopez et al., 2023). NIs ensure that CDSS platforms are designed for user-friendliness and meet clinical needs, boosting decision accuracy and reducing errors.

Leading health organizations such as the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic have adopted nursing informatics to enhance clinical performance. Cleveland Clinic uses nursing informatics to streamline Electronic Health Records (EHRs), while Mayo Clinic uses CDSS to tailor care for patients with Acute Kidney Injury (Mayo Clinic, 2024). These systems assist in predicting risk factors and offering timely, evidence-based recommendations. The presence of Nurse Informaticists in these settings ensures that CDSS is integrated smoothly, aligning patient care strategies with technology and enhancing clinical outcomes.

Nurse Informaticists and Healthcare Collaboration

Nurse Informaticists act as liaisons between technology developers and healthcare professionals. They collaborate across disciplines—nurses, physicians, and IT experts—to develop systems that are clinically relevant and functionally efficient (Laraichi et al., 2024). By applying their dual expertise, they ensure that CDSS tools are effectively integrated into EHRs and that systems meet the dynamic demands of patient care. Their work not only reduces clinical errors but also fosters team collaboration and boosts clinical efficiency.

Training is a crucial responsibility of Nurse Informaticists. They educate nurses and other clinical staff on how to use CDSS effectively, ensuring that everyone understands how to access real-time data and apply it to clinical decision-making. According to the American Nurses Association (2024), training initiatives support the adoption of technology and increase staff competency, which translates to safer and more efficient patient care. NI-led implementation also supports change management and increases the acceptance of new tools within clinical environments.

The value of full nurse participation in CDSS planning cannot be overstated. When nurses are involved in the creation and execution of clinical systems, workflows improve, and patient outcomes are optimized. Nurses’ insights help ensure that the CDSS supports practical clinical operations while reducing overhead costs. According to Zhai et al. (2022), nurse engagement is vital in every stage of implementation to ensure clinical relevance and acceptance of the tools. Moreover, such integration enhances efficiency and leads to significant cost savings.

Opportunities, Challenges, and Recommendations

Nurse Informaticists bring transformative opportunities to health organizations through the implementation of CDSS, including the standardization of care and the enhancement of patient safety. These professionals help streamline care workflows and ensure real-time, data-driven decisions (Laraichi et al., 2024). For instance, CDSS use has reduced unnecessary testing costs, such as an annual \$300,000 saving on vitamin D testing (Lewkowicz et al., 2020). Moreover, NIs are key in maintaining data integrity, ensuring HIPAA compliance, and executing data encryption and multifactor authentication to protect sensitive patient information (Shojaei et al., 2024).

Despite these advantages, challenges persist, including resistance to new technologies and data privacy concerns. These can be addressed through robust staff training and strict data security protocols. NIs conduct system audits and enforce access controls to safeguard patient records. Their collaboration with technologists ensures that tools meet clinical needs and are user-friendly, thereby improving acceptance rates.

To conclude, the inclusion of Nurse Informaticists is justified based on their unique ability to integrate CDSS into healthcare systems effectively. Their involvement enhances diagnostic accuracy, patient safety, and data security. Nurse Informaticists serve as catalysts for technological adoption, enabling better outcomes through streamlined clinical workflows, data-driven decision-making, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Table: Summary of Key Concepts

Heading	Key Focus Areas	Examples and Outcomes
Nursing Informatics and CDSS	– Improve diagnostics – Reduce errors – Real-time alerts	CDSS tools used by Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic to enhance patient-specific care and diagnostics
NI Roles and Collaboration	– Train staff – Optimize EHR – Design user-friendly CDSS	NI ensures smooth CDSS-EHR integration, educates teams, ensures clinical relevance
Opportunities and Justifications	– Cost savings – Privacy and data security – Improved patient care	Savings of \$300,000 annually (Lewkowicz et al., 2020); Enhanced HIPAA compliance and care quality

References

American Nurses Association. (2024). What is nursing informatics and why is it so important. https://www.nursingworld.org/content-hub/resources/nursing-resources/nursing-informatics/

Cleveland Clinic. (2024). Nursing informatics. https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/nursing/nursing-informatics

Laraichi, O., Daim, T., Alzahrani, S., Hogaboam, L., Bolatan, G. I., & Moughari, M. M. (2024). Technology readiness assessment: Case of clinical decision support systems in healthcare. Technology in Society, 79, 102736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2024.102736

Lewkowicz, D., Wohlbrandt, A., & Boettinger, E. (2020). Economic impact of clinical decision support interventions based on electronic health records. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 871. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05688-3

NURS FPX 4045 Assessment 1 Nursing Informatics in Health Care

Lopez, K. D., Langford, L. H., Kennedy, R., McCormick, K., Delaney, C. W., Alexander, G., Englebright, J., Carroll, W. M., & Monsen, K. A. (2023). Future advancement of health care through standardized nursing terminologies: Reflections from a Friends of the National Library of Medicine workshop honoring Virginia K. Saba. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 30(11), 1878–1884. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocad156

Mayo Clinic. (2024). Clinical decision support systems for personalized management of patients with acute kidney injury. https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/pulmonary-medicine/news/clinical-decision-support-systems-for-personalized-management-of-patients-with-acute-kidney-injury/mac-20524049

Nashwan, A. J., Cabrega, J. A., Othman, M. I., Khedr, M. A., Osman, Y. M., Ashry, A. M. E., Naif, R., & Mousa, A. A. (2025). The evolving role of nursing informatics in the era of artificial intelligence. International Nursing Review, 72(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.13084

Shojaei, P., Gjorgievska, V. E., & Chow, Y.-W. (2024). Security and privacy of technologies in health information systems: A systematic literature review. Computers, 13(2), 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/computers13020041

NURS FPX 4045 Assessment 1 Nursing Informatics in Health Care

Zhai, Y., Yu, Z., Zhang, Q., Qin, W., Yang, C., & Zhang, Y. (2022). Transition to a new nursing information system embedded with clinical decision support: A mixed-method study using the HOT-fit framework. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 22(1), 310. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-022-02041-y