Significance of Advance Practice Nurse in the Use Health Information Technology and the HITECH Act

Answer

Significance of Advance Practice Nurse in the Use Health Information Technology and the HITECH Act

Advanced practice nursing involves nurses who have attained post-graduate education in a specific nursing area.  As such, advanced practice nurses have enhanced clinical and didactic knowledge, education, and skill regarding nursing practice. Similarly, their nursing understanding and scope are extensive. Contemporary nursing practice has incorporated technology to a significant extend.  Therefore, nurses require additional learning on how to use specific technologies in healthcare. Therefore, advanced practice nursing is fundamental in enlightening nurses regarding their conduct and competence when using healthcare technology. Similarly, advanced practice nurses help transfer skills to other staff at the workplace.

The primary importance of advanced practice nursing in the use of health information technologies such as electronic health records (EHR) is that it imparts nurses with skills necessary for utilizing these technologies. According to Blume (2016), the significance of technology in healthcare is shaping the training schedules and courses for nursing. Principally, training institutions are trying to ensure that nurses are technically competent as they are likely to work in an environment dominated by technological devices.  However, the main elements of most nursing training remain the same as the focus is on saving lives. Therefore, training on the use of technology is not carried put extensively. In this regard, training at an advanced level, which is past the college and undergraduate levels, helps impart these skills. Therefore, advance practice nurse is essential in helping nurses know how to use healthcare technologies such as EHR.

Healthcare operations require teamwork and collaboration between different personals.   Fundamentally, one patient case may require the input of more than three personals. During such interactions and collaborative activities, advance practice nurses become essential in transferring technological skills to other staff who may not be well versed with them. For instance, the additional training that advanced practice nurses have as compared to other staff allows them to understand changes in technology as well as the advantages. Therefore, they can help enlighten other staff, including hospital managers, about the need to adopt healthcare technologies and the associated benefits in the long run.  Moreover, during change processes, when a healthcare facility is adopting technological features such as EHR, advanced practice nurses can be fundamental in providing responses about the system, which can be used to evaluate the technologies’ effectiveness. Similarly, advanced practice nurses can directly, through one on one approaches, teach other staff how to utilize technologies that are present within their work environment.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 speaks out various privacy and security issues relating to healthcare information and data. Ideally, the Act is a response to the high adoption of healthcare technologies, which increased the risk of misusing patient data.  Therefore, the HITECH Act states how to manage data safely by specifying out transmission requirements and staff to share with.

Advanced practice nurses are essential in the adoption of the HITECH Act as they understand its role. According to Fang and Kesten (2017), a large percentage of nurses in the United States are likely to retire within the next two decades, indicating that they began practicing early or are aged. Therefore, they may have undertaken their studies before 2009 when the HITECH Act was not in place. As such, they may struggle to understand the Act or adhering to its provisions. In this regard, advanced nurse practice is essential in helping them acquire new knowledge related to the Act, thereby minimizing the chances of violating the Act.

Conclusively, advanced practice nurses are crucial in enlightening healthcare providers about technology. Through active interaction, advanced practice nurses can also transfer healthcare technological use skills to other nurses who may not have them. Similarly, advanced practice nursing enlightens nurses on new legislative clauses such as the HITECH Act.