Nursing work has changed significantly in recent decades due to many factors, including the development of technology and, in particular, the introduction of healthcare informatics systems into practice. Such technologies can simplify the work of nurses and are an effective tool for monitoring information and communication. In addition, they help to improve efficiency and protect patient privacy. The use of healthcare informatics systems allows for easier access to patients’ information, facilitates the work of nurses, and helps avoid medical errors, which positively affects the quality of care.
Healthcare informatics systems must be user-friendly to be effective. This is a key characteristic since working with an inconvenient program takes significantly more time. The easy-to-use program allows for less effort on paperwork, freeing up more time for patient care, which is directly related to the quality of service and the efficiency of the nurse (Jimma & Enyew, 2022). The program I worked with was electronic health record (EHR) eClinicalWorks, which is generally user-friendly but needs improvement. This EMR is comprehensive and has many features, such as messaging service. However, in the context of user-friendliness, the interface needs improvement. It took the effort to study and locate all the information it included. The placement of various tabs is only sometimes intuitive. The inability to use more than one tab at a time to view multiple patients’ information is also a disadvantage that deteriorates user-friendliness.
An important attribute is also the learnability of the software. It refers to the simplicity nurses may take up and understand it. The greater an application’s learnability, the less training and time are required to utilize it. When I studied it, I had to spend quite a lot of effort and search for additional information. I also watched tutorial videos to understand how to use some of the features.
The way the healthcare informatics system affects the efficiency of a nurse is one of the key characteristics of the appropriateness of its use. Nursing efficiency encompasses competent standard care by the nursing profession’s Code of Ethics, skilled interpersonal relationships and communication, proper use of technology, and an adequate Nurse-Patient Ratio (Zadvinskis et a, 2018). Health information systems have had a positive impact on my effectiveness. In particular, eClinicalWorks maintains a messaging service without giving the provider’s email address or phone number. Patient notes and paperwork from pharmacies can be viewed and addressed. It saves time and is far more convenient than making a phone call, allowing me to dedicate more attention to patients.
For the software to be convenient and effective in use, memorability is an important criterion. This refers to how easy it is to remember after a time-lapse between visits. Since I spent a lot of effort memorizing the functions and locations of the tabs, remembering them was simple. However, those functions used less often sometimes need to be searched again, negatively affecting the convenience of use. This is also associated with a complex and non-intuitive user interface.
The presence of errors can significantly complicate the work in the healthcare informatics system. Errors may relate to instability, freezing, or the need to restart the program, which takes much time and can lead to the loss of part of the work done. The need to fix technical problems or limit work increases workload, wastes time, and generally negatively affects the usability of the software and can decrease the nurse’s efficiency. However, I have not encountered any errors while working with the healthcare informatics system.
Systems represent a good improvement, including several benefits for nurses. Sometimes there are difficulties associated with learning and understanding some functions, but they are much more convenient than if all actions were performed manually or on paper. My experience with healthcare informatics systems has generally remained positive despite some difficulties. Improvements in user-friendliness, intuitiveness, and more user-friendly interfaces could further improve their effectiveness and positively affect the work of healthcare in general.
References
Jimma, B. L., & Enyew, D. B. (2022). Barriers to the acceptance of electronic medical records from the perspective of physicians and nurses: A scoping review. Informatics in Medicine Unlocked, 100991. Web.
Zadvinskis, I. M., Smith, J. G., & Yen, P. Y. (2018). Nurses’ experience with health information technology: Longitudinal qualitative study. JMIR Medical Informatics, 6(2), 8734. Web.