Clinical Informatics Nurse versus Informatics Specialist
Nursing Informatics is defined as a specialty integrating nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, and knowledge in nursing practice (Kenney & Androwich, 2012).
The scope and standards of practice for nursing informatics as published by the American Nurses Association (ANA) in 2008 include theory and concepts from sciences incorporated into nursing informatics, integration of human-computer interaction into informatics practice, and social, ethical, and legal issues of nursing and health care involved with informatics (Kenney & Androwich, 2012).
Increases in computer documentation and electric health records (EHR's) in health care now and in the future will increase the need for nurses to have basic competencies in computer use in health care practice. The role of the Informatics Nurse will be varied depending on organizational, system, and individual needs. Two current roles for nurses in informatics are the Clinical Informatics Nurse and the Informatics Specialist.
The Clinical Informatics Nurse serves basic functions in an organization relating to transitioning EHR's from paper to electronic format that complies with state and federal regulations which are standard across the interdisciplinary workforce. The Clinical Informatics Nurse validates, tests, and supports staff with clinical applications; maintains advanced clinical skills and monitors effectiveness and appropriateness of clinical applications in the clinical environment; serves as an resource and liaison for staff in development and maintenance of clinical applications ("Nursing Informatics," 2013).
The Informatics Specialist is an expert on electronic health information technology (HIT) which includes setting standards, quality improvement, and performance measures for federal legislation, and other regulating bodies in health care related to HIT. They create policy...