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The Role of the Informatics Nurse in Education
Education is an important aspect of nursing. Nurses provide education to other disciplines and other nurses in addition to patients, families, and communities. Education is included in sections of professional practice and the systems life cycle for the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC, 2013) nursing informatics certification, to include staff development, theories that support adult education, and all aspects of planning for education in the systems life cycle section. This article will explore the education in health care organizations as opposed to academia.
Patient Education
Patient education for informatics nurses includes both the patient education workflow and material imbedded in the electronic health record (EHR) as well as web-based education. Web-based education can be accessed and utilized from the intranet, internet, and the patient portal. Providing patient education can improve their understanding of self-care and symptom management upon discharge. Inadequate patient education contributes to a higher rate of hospital readmissions, according to Sawyer and colleagues (2016).
Education that is imbedded in the EHR to guide staff and/or printed for the patient needs to be clear and written in a way that patients can understand - using plain language (Bittner, Jonietz, Bittner, Beickert, & Harendza, 2015) at a level that can be comprehended by patients of all levels of health literacy (Bergman, 2016). In addition, printed material needs to be clearly formatted in a font that meets regulatory requirements and is large enough for patients and their families to read. An interprofessional team that includes community representatives to review patient education material is an ideal model.
In addition, patients are increasingly using the internet to obtain and validate information on their condition and treatment options (John, John, Hansberry, & Lambert, 2016). When reviewing online resources, consider the validity and credibility of the site as well as the readability of the information provided. According to John and colleagues (2016), utilizing a credible site from the internet that presents the information at a reading level the patient can understand can improve the effectiveness of patient education.
Education that is web-based or technology-based is another trend that the informatics nurse can implement and support. Sawyer and colleagues (2016) discuss the implementation of education of...