What is health care informatics? Coming into this class I was really unsure myself but my advisor assured me that it was a much needed class so here I am. Working in a facility that is recently computer based I am starting to feel a little more comfortable behind the “keyboard” so to speak. I’m still adjusting to the new and ever changing world of technology but as a nurse change is part of nursing too so ready or not, I need to catch up. Health care informatics is a combination of information, computer science and my world of healthcare. Informatics to me is a lot like my kid’s lego blocks. They start with a couple of blocks and then build it up with more and more blocks until they have a tall tower of legos. Informatics is a lot like that as well, you start with a small base of knowledge and then you grow and add new “blocks” of information to build your “tower of knowledge.” I feel the more blocks you add the more you can benefit your patients and those around you. As we get older I believe that we lose some of our blocks. It to me is like the game of building a tower and then you pull the blocks out of places but you have to do it stargetically to avoid knocking down the tower. We may not get to choose which blocks in our mind get pulled out but if we work on having a strong knowledge base ahead of time then we can enjoy the builiding process we call life. There are many that can benefit from our building blocks and I enjoy getting to add a new block to my tower from this class.
The first week of class I learned a lot of computer terms that while I had heard them, I defitinely needed a refresher. I thought a lot about the term in the power point presentation of shoulder surfing. That is something that I probally do at work on a daily basis never once thinking of the consequences or the fact that I could be looking at information that I don’t need to be looking at. It has caused me to be more aware of my actions and more aware of others around me when I have a EHR open.
Who do I think owns the EHR? That is a question that has haunted me since our facility went live with our latest computer system. In my opinion it is the patient. They own whatever information is posted in their chart about them at any given time. I believe in the HIPA laws and firmly believe that everyone has a right to privacy. There is an exception when it comes to patient safety and privacy such as an abuse case or something that could directly or indirectly harm a patient should that information not be shared with the right people. I believe that the rest of the people, nursing, physician, insurance, etc…, using the EHR are just “visitors” and need to have a respect for those patients and families who depend on us to protect their records and the information in it.
