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While people tweet, twitter and text, the world of social media has grown beyond just sharing family photos. Diverse professional sectors are successfully harnessing the power of these technologies and distilling it to who they are ultimately designed for: people. In health care, informatics and the collection of defined nursing-related patient outcomes are vital signposts on the road to becoming a Nurse 2.0.
The 3rd National Nursing Informatics Conference in November 2009 had a theme of “Nurse 2.0”, with a focus on how Web 2.0 and social media, as well as other technological means of collaboration, networking, innovation, and global awareness and initiatives impact on the practice of nursing in Canada.
If you were asked whether you see yourself as part of a Nurse 2.0 community, how would you answer? How do you think your colleagues would answer?
The Canadian Nursing Informatics Association (CNIA) “exists to help nurses across Canada to learn, share, research, and create informatics-related projects and experiences that can help to boost the competencies, theory, and practice of informatics on a national level.” A new nursing informatics definition from International Medical Informatics Association: Nursing Informatics (IMIANI) was adopted in July, 2009 at the 10th International Congress on Nursing Informatics – NI2009 in Helsinki, Finland:
“Nursing Informatics science and practice integrates nursing, its information and knowledge and their management with information and communication technologies to promote the health of people, families and communities world wide.”
Dr. Kathryn Hannah, dubbed the “Grand Dame of Canadian Nursing Informatics” by the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association, has articulated the importance and value of standardized data in nursing. “If we cannot name it, we cannot control it, finance it, teach it, research it, or put it into public policy.”
To quote Virginia McNaughton, CAET-ETNEP Director (Enterostomal Therapy Nurse Education Program), “What if your pay was directly linked to the health outcomes of your patient/client? Could you differentiate your care from the overall care they received from all the providers that provided service to them?” For example, wound care in Canada is delivered by wound-care specialists. Virginia McNaughton states, “Nurses especially will have to re-educate themselves about nursing informatics, as many members of the profession did not learn this information during their academic preparation.”
Kathryn Hannah and Peggy White updated conference attendees on their work with C-HOBIC – the Canadian Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care project, supported by Canada Health Infoway - with a Plenary Panel and introduction of a new Toolkit they have created to facilitate implementation.
(C-HOBIC) project will implement the electronic collection of standardized patient outcome information related to nursing care in electronic health records (EHRs) across Canadian jurisdictions. Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are integrating the standardized nursing information into a variety of care settings; PEI is participating only in the development and education phase of the project.
The collection of nursing-related outcomes clearly articulates, in standardized data sets, specific contributions from nurses to the overall health of the patient/client. During the project data has been collected on:
- functional status
- therapeutic self-care (readiness for discharge)
- symptom management (e.g., pain, nausea, fatigue, dyspnea)
- safety (falls, pressure ulcers)
- patient satisfaction with nursing care
The project provides real-time information to nurses about how patients are benefiting from care, as well as valuable information to administrators in understanding how well their organization is preparing patients for discharge. Mobilizing this information will be valuable to researchers and policy-makers in terms of patient safety, outcomes related to home care, accountability, use of information technology, and examining how well Canada’s health care system is meeting people’s needs.
Nurses will be trained to assess and document patient outcomes at the point of care using a standardized methodology. There is no doubt that this is exciting work.
So what does this all mean for nursing professionals as Nurse 2.0, the larger world of Health / Medicine 2.0, and yes, even Web 2.0? Web 2.0 applications are designed to empower people, or “users” to learn, share, collaborate and use real-time information, which greatly impacts nursing and health care professionals. And we all know that with great power comes great responsibility. Nursing informatics tools have great potential to change practice and healthcare (enter Nurse 2.0), with outcomes for home care. Like web 2.0 applications, the tools only become more beneficial the more people use them.
In the world of social media and web. 2.0, there is a ladder of participation sometimes referred to as the 1% rule. If 100 people are in a social network or community, it can be argued that 1 will contribute new content, 10 will post a comment, and 89 will just view or read content. As more people join or move up the ladder of participation, the benefit of the tool will increase.
Is there such a ladder or cycle for “Nurse 1.0” becoming “Nurse 2.0”? Informatics are key to nursing. How much do nurses, in relation to other health professionals, use a 2.0 lens in their practice? The low and mid-level rungs of the ladder may include viewing information and connecting in technology-supported professional communities. More active nurse 2.0 activities could involve collaboration and openness in peer-to-peer networks, and adopting implementation of systematic, structured projects such as C-HOBIC.
To understand the profile of a nurse in a 2.0 world, we wonder where web 2.0 and nursing truly intersect. Is there a direct relationship between your engagement in nurse 2.0 activities and your understanding of – and participation in -- the Web 2.0 social networking world of blogs, wikis, RSS and user-generated/author content platforms?
We would love to know your thoughts on this brave new world whether you are a nurse, healthcare professional in a different capacity or researcher.
If you are a patient or client, how do you think this should all translate in the quality of your care – in a hospital or home care setting?
Sources:
Canadian Nursing Informatics Association
Hannah, KJ. Health Informatics and Nursing in Canada. Available online at http://www.yorku.ca/elmorr/NURS4200/articles/Health%20informatics%20and%20nursing%20in%20Canada.pdf . Accessed September 30, 2009.
McNaughton, V. Nursing Informatics: A Valuable New Tool for Nursing in Canada. Wound Care Canada, vol.5, no.2. Available online at http://www.cawc.net/open/wcc/5-2/index.html . Accessed September 30, 2009.
