Happy June all!

Over the last few weeks, I have noticed an increase in questions and curiosity around the use of technology in nursing and healthcare. 

Twenty years ago, we were largely on paper and technology was perceived to some extent as a foreign entity that was not necessarily "part" of nursing. We had operated on paper to document, to manage medications, to check orders and more. 

However, today in 2024, the vast majority of health centers, systems, practices, and organizations are using digital tools for patient record management, medication management, labs, radiology and more. 

One can no longer separate nursing and healthcare from the dependency on technology. 

However, I would like to have you reflect on the stethoscope for a moment. Would you consider that to be a technology? 

The stethoscope was invented to standardize the assessment of patient heart, lung and bowel sounds across healthcare professionals. Prior to its invention, one relied...

Cheers to May 12th!

Today, May 12th, is recognized as Nursing Informatics Day by the American Nurses Association (ANA). Consider how special it is that Informatics Nursing gets a day of recognition during nurses week. For a specialty that was officially recognized in 1992, informatics continually makes an impact across the profession and beyond. Nursing Informatics Day was officially recognized in 2008, 16 years ago.

May 12th is also recognized as International Nurses Day recognized by the International Council of Nurses. May 12th marks the last day of National Nurses Week. The significance of the day is that it is Florence Nightingale's date of birth. 

Florence Nightingale was a visionary of nursing in many ways, including the specialty practice of informatics. 

Over the last week, I had several conversations about nursing, informatics, the future, the past, and how to integrate it all together in a meaningful way. This can seem overwhelming at times. 

However, it is...

Happy Sunday!

Perhaps it is the optimist in me but when we reach February, I know Spring is coming soon. (Now keep in mind that I live in the Northeast where it gets quite cold). However, I am looking ahead into the future while living in the present. 

I see this optimistic and future oriented perspective present in how I've approached professional endeavors in the past as well. Nearly 20 years ago now, I opted for a clinical analyst role in an Information Technology (IT) department to work on an Electronic Health Record (EHR) project. 

I wanted to take on a new role in nursing that would allow me to help other nurses who are caring for patients. While I had limited IT knowledge, I had strong clinical nursing knowledge and experience to support the design of the EHR. 

However, in making that shift away from the bedside, I ran into some resistance from others. I would hear directly and indirectly that I had "gone to the dark side". I also would on occasion hear...

ANCC released its updated test content outline for the Informatics Nurse board exam on May 3rd 2023. Many have been awaiting this new information (originally expected in December 22 and then June 23) to know what new content and/or changes may occur. 

I was surprised to see it come a month earlier than expected but we got to work and began reviewing the differences in the previous exam content and framework with that of the new exam. 

Some good news to consider for those that have been actively preparing - everything you've been preparing for still applies. There may just be some additions you need to include in your study plan. 

Some differences include: 

1. The exam is now 150 questions (instead of 175 questions). We anticipate this means that your time available during the test is also cut a bit short (likely 3 hours from 3.5 hours). There are 25 practice questions that are not counted toward your score in this 150 questions. However, you will not be able to...

Every two years, HIMSS releases a new report on the results of their Nursing Informatics Workforce Survey. The last report was for 2020 and I was excited to see that the 2022 report is now out! 

At the start of the HIMSS report, acknowledgement is made that "nurse informaticists are a critical human component to broadly enhancing healthcare. They are the driving force behind health innovation and technology to realize the full health potential of every human everywhere." As the healthcare industry continues to become more technologically dependent, such roles continue to be critical. 

A total of 1,118 informatics nurses responded to the survey (with 5% of respondents from outside of the U.S.) and contributed their thoughts on questions relating to nursing informatics in general, workplace locations, compensation, education and experience, job details, organizational structure, and more. 

Over 35% of informatics nurses reported that the number of informatics nurse...

Wishing each of you a happy holiday season! 

As 2022 nearly comes to an end, it is natural to think about the future while also reflecting on the accomplishments of the past year. 

At iCare, we saw so many of you reach your goals and share your successes with us! Those are exciting moments for us and we appreciate you sharing your accomplishments with us!

We also heard from you of areas where you'd like to see more from us in the year to come and beyond. (More to come in 2023...)

We upgraded our website and moved to a new platform for more ease of use and the opportunity to expand our offerings in a more seamless way. 

We also added on some new programs with one more coming *hopefully* before the end of 2022!

Revamp your Resume was added to support your professional  resume development. We often hear from nurses who are not in formal informatics roles but wish to do so, how they can showcase their informatics and health IT expertise. While this program was...

Can you believe that we are less than two months away from a new year? The 2022 year has gone by fast. Something that always comes to mind toward the end of a year is closing out the current year and planning for the next. 

As we head toward closing out the 2022 year, it is important to reflect on what you have accomplished in your professional career. 

Perhaps you were asked to serve on a new health IT, quality and safety, or informatics council. 

Perhaps you were asked to give a presentation on behalf of your colleagues for a project that helped support care delivery. 

Perhaps you took on a new role, received an award, or earned a new certification. 

Whatever you may have achieved, now is the time to ensure it has been added to your resume. In fact, I encourage you to consider establishing a cycle at least once, preferably twice, per year where you revamp your resume!

I often hear from nurses who are either looking for ways to stand out in their resume or...

During the summer of 2014, I finally committed to taking the informatics nurse board certification exam. 

I did not know how to approach studying for it nor how it would go but I was tired of putting it off and knew if I did not do it soon, it would continue to get put off. 

While I had my PhD in nursing informatics from Duke, I knew that I was still missing that third party validation of my knowledge that could be assessed by clients, customers, and colleagues. I did not want there to be any question that my knowledge, experience, expertise, and approaches to health IT projects and practice  was comprehensive, thorough, and valuable to others. 

Unfortunately, there have been many times where I have been asked, "what is informatics?" and "what do informatics nurses do?". Those are times when I reflect on their questions and recognize that more clarity is needed to our roles and capabilities. 

One way to demonstrate your capabilities, expertise, and...

I recently read, Devices and Desires: Gender, Technology, and American Nursing by Margarete Sandelowski PhD RN FAAN. I did not know what I would learn while reading but was intrigued by the possibility of uncovering more about nursing and technology in care delivery. I was also delighted to know such a book was available on this topic. 

Without giving anything away, the book offers many insights that continue to perpetuate in today's healthcare delivery systems. Nurses continue to be the most involved caregiver with patients. Nurses also continue interact with technological hardware and software tools more frequently than their healthcare professional peers. We continue to struggle with finding the right balance between human care and technological tools to support such care. Nurses also continue to advance the profession through their own day to day advocacy for those whom they care whether 100 years ago or today. 

One of the sentences that really caught my...

Good afternoon all, 

I was reading an article this week on Unique Nurse Identifiers (UNI) and wanted to reflect on it here this week. 

If this is the first time you have heard of a Unique Nurse Identifier (UNI), I'll share the definition from the article which I was reading:

"A UNI is a defined code or series of characters that represents an individual nurse within various healthcare technology systems and devices."

The concept of UNI's is not new as each registered nurse has a UNI with the board of nursing where he/she/they has had a registered nursing license. 

Additionally, Nurse Practitioners have a National Provider Identification (NPI) number provided from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Adding a UNI for nurses in healthcare organizations could help in several ways. One that stands out is the ability to more discretely identify the impact of direct nursing care on patient health outcomes. An ongoing challenge in nursing has been the ability...