Question

The importance of the clinical nurses role in tge selection of a clinical information system process

Answer 1

Clinical nurses play an essential role in integrating direct patient care with technology to transform data into wisdom. Clinical nurses are involved during the CIS selection and implementation process. In general, phases of the process include:

• system selection
• system design and development, including current and future state validation
• testing
• education
• implementation or “go live”
• ongoing maintenance and optimization.

Organizations engage clinical nurses throughout all the phases noted above. Typically, clinical nurses have demonstrated an interest in HIT (Health Information Technology) projects. Organizations or hospitals will often identify nurses who are considered subject matter experts on each unit or specialty within the organization. These clinical nurses are experts in patient care delivery and can articulate the needs of patients, families, and nurses to CIS professionals. The design, development, and implementation of CIS  must support the needs of patients, nurses, and other clinicians delivering care.

Finally, clinical nurses can demand a live demonstration of the CIS at their unit before the purchase decision is made by the organization. Clinical nurses can also visit a site where the proposed CIS is operational in order to get a real understanding of how the system works in real hospital scenarios.