Time Flies By

Nursing Informatics may be regarded as a specialty that has evolved with time.  Some of the main elements of Nursing Informatics, information and computers, are utilized by people every day. Nurses are among the largest group of health care professionals, therefore the development of nursing informatics as a specialty was a matter of time (The History of Nursing Informatics, n.d.).

When I consider the history of Nursing Informatics and how this specialty has evolved with time, I recognize the profound impact it has had on my own career as a nurse.  How have I seen informatics change during my nursing career?

As a new graduate, I drowned in paper documentation which proved to be tedious, repetitive, and overwhelming.  I remember times where documentation on one patient took up to one hour.  Over the course of my 5 year career, informatics has made my life as a nurse much easier.  Documentation has become more efficient because it is electronically based, which allows me to spend more time with my patients. In addition, nursing informatics allows enhanced communication with doctors, because physicians can access patient records, vitals, and assessments as soon as documentation is entered in the computer.  Furthermore, physicians can access patient records remotely from home which also improves care.

Reference:
N.d.  The History of Nursing Informatics.  Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_5101338_history-nursing-informatics.html.