Strategic planning and the nursing process both are essential when developing medical informatics. The nursing process is an exceptional representation to use for strategic planning because it contains the same elements. It is imperative to educate health care professional to understanding the language of the information technology (IT) world. The nursing process includes assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The strategic planning process is similar to the nursing process while assessing and gathering information from out patients, the strategic planning process assesses the realization that changes are required. In strategic planning the project implementation team exists of representatives from the user departments, including managers, and front-line employees most familiar with the activities of the department (Hebda & Czar, 2012). In the nursing process, implementation is the same as the strategic planning because nurses initiation the plan of care for patients. In strategic planning, the evaluation process is ongoing and frequent evaluation of the processes as well as the current and future needs must be performed (Hebda & Czar, 2012).
The same for the nursing process the evaluation phase is ongoing and continually performed by the nurse to evaluate whether the outcome is achieved. The strategic planning and the nursing process have very little differences in healthcare. The nurse’s role in the strategic planning process is a decision maker in the planning process and information technology strategic planning activity. They bridge the gap between nursing and the Information Technology (IT) department (Hebda & Czar, 2012). The chief nursing informatics officers (CNIO) is a senior informatics executive who helps with the functioning, structure, and needs of the organizations to help develop the plan. The main concern of CNIOs is to make the most of the nursing informatics knowledge and skills to understand the computer, information, and nursing sciences, lead strategically and operationally. They focused on the design, selection, and implementation of health information systems (Hebda & Czar, 2012). It is crucial to obtain support from nurses and physicians when selecting a system they will use. “ Nurses are resistant to change unless they see the potential benefits” (Hebda & Czar, 2012, p, 146)
Nurses involved in the strategic planning process by developing guidelines for the planning process. They can create order sets, patient data reports, diagnostic support, workflow tools, and help with standardized nursing language. The practice of standardized nursing languages for example NANDA, NIC, and NOC help support the nursing documentation and expands the effectiveness of collected information (Hebda & Czar, 2012). It is important for nurses to incorporate standardize language into informatics but is equally important to understand the language of the information technology world. “ The healthcare industry has reached the world of information technology (IT) so that nurses should then learn the language that it speaks, which is informatics” (Simpson, 2007, p, 16).
The diagnostic pathway approach to nursing information systems provides a multidisciplinary design for documenting and planning the patients care plan. Other medical systems, including order entry, laboratory, radiology, physician management system, and pharmacy systems give the nurse and other healthcare providers the support and tools to more effectively care for the patients. Nurses can implement the nursing process method with support and the use of documenting the nursing procedures to provide tools for managing the delivery of nursing care. “ Understanding the role of the informatics nurses in your area will help you to work with them to improve clinical systems” (Sewell, & Thede, 2013, p, 308).
In conclusion, the nursing process and strategic planning have many similarities with very little differences noted. Health care professionals work together using a cooperative and collaborative effort to achieve the common goal of caring for our communities, families, and patients. Nurses provide evidence-based practice by researching new procedures and techniques to care for patients but also learning new languages of the technology world is imperative to care for these same patients.
References
Hebda, T., & Czar, P. (2013). Handbook of informatics for nurses & healthcare professionals (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Sewell J., & Thede, L. (2013). Informatics and nursing: Opportunities and challenges (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health │ Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Simpson, R. L. (2007). Nursing informatics: The economics of education. Nursing Management, 38(6), 16-17.
