Nursing Informatics Telehealth and Graves and Corcorans Term Paper

Nursing Informatics Telehealth and Graves and Corcorans Data-Information-Knowledge - Term Paper Example According to the research findings Tone quoted Graves and Corcoran to have said that nursing informatics is â€Å"a combination of computer science, information science, and nursing science designed to assist in the management and processing of nursing data, information and knowledge to support the practice of nursing and the delivery of patient care.† In turn, nursing informatics is part of healthcare informatics that Guenther had reported to have been defined by Saba and McCormick as â€Å"the integration of health sciences, computer science, information science, and cognitive science to assist in the management of health care information.† The striking similarity of the definitions between nursing informatics and health informatics should not be a surprise. It is highly likely that Graves and Corcoran have influenced the entire field of healthcare informatics as health care informatics may have influenced Graves and Corcoran. However, Guenther reported that medical i nformatics is a term that have been in used since the mid-70s and had referred to â€Å"information technologies that concern patient care and the medical decision-making process.† Further, Guenther reported that the term nursing informatics â€Å"was not seen in the literature until 1984† even if Guenther reported that nurses have been working on nursing informatics for more than twenty-five years as of 2006. It is not clear from Guenther who started the term nursing informatics in 1984. ... oles and Barber (1980), nursing informatics has been in used even before 1980 and, thus, Guenther (2006) may be wrong on the view that nursing informatics â€Å"was not seen in the literature since 1984.† Further, according to Thede (2010) based on the work of Sackett and Erdley, the term â€Å"informatics† was coined in 1966 but Scholes and Barber (1980) was probably the first to use the term â€Å"nursing informatics†. The work of Staggers and Thomson (2002) and Guenther (2006) are highly informative on the literature of nursing informatics as well as on how our notion of nursing informatics has evolved over the years. Staggers and Thomson (2002) emphasized the need for a definition of nursing informatics even if by that time, the American Nursing Association has already adopted a definition of nursing informatics in 2001. At minimum, the Staggers and Thomson (2002) expression of a need for a definition of nursing informatics probably indicated a discontent for the prevailing notion of nursing informatics in 2002. As Staggers and Thomson (2002, p. 255) themselves pointed out, â€Å"a definition is a fundamental element for shaping a specialty.† Staggers and Thomson (2006, p. 255) continued that â€Å"a definition for nursing informatics guides role delineation for nurses interested in informatics and suggests directions for practice, education, training, and research.† Further, a definition of nursing informatics â€Å"may be useful to other disciplines as they define informatics practice within their own specialties† (Staggers and Thomson, 2002, p. 256). Staggers and Thomson also emphasized that â€Å"a definition for nursing informatics is needed to help others, within and outside nursing, understand the legitimacy of the practice and the general competencies of a nurse who