Successful Online Teaching and Learning Strategies

This chapter presents a theoretical framework and research base for the successful transition of an established Master of Science in Nursing program from that of traditional classroom delivery to one that is Web-based with no geographic limitations to students. The application of socio-technical systems theory to facilitate creation of a positive learning environment for future nurse leaders is described. Use of social processes and application of technology to optimize learning is explained and the latest research on content presentation and student engagement in an e-learning environment are presented. The authors hope that through examination of successful online teaching/learning strategies, readers will have a clear understanding of the competencies necessary for students and faculty to be successful in online education.

Assessment in a Computer-Based Nursing Documentation

Experience in nursing practice shows that, in Austria, there are still problems with assessment in computer-based nursing documentation. Nursing documentation includes the various steps of the nursingprocess and the nursing diagnosis. In addition, an assessment instrument, which captures the needs for care, must also be integrated into it. This chapter describes different Nursing Assessment Instruments and the advantages of Computer-Based Nursing Process Documentation. Quality criteria for assessment instruments are validity, sensitivity, specificity, reliability, practicability, and the appropriateness of the instrument. Quality criteria for computer-based systems are basically software ergonomic aspects, which are not part of this study. Each country should choose for itself those specific assessment instruments that capture the needs for care of their clients. These data enable comparison of facilities and reliable cost estimates in connection with nursing.

The Role of EBM and Nursing Informatics in Rural Australia

The purpose of this chapter is to broadly discuss the need for enhanced evidence-based medicine (EBM) by nurses in the context of rural Australia and the role that nursing informatics and an informed strategy could facilitate in making such need a feasible reality. First, the introduction highlights current time gaps between health discoveries and eventual practice and the potential for information technology to positively affect this gap. Then, the need for nurses to take an active role in evidence-based medicine in rural settings is argued. The link between information literacy and evidence-based medicine is consequently presented and gaps in knowledge regarding nursing informatics training are highlighted. Concluding with the argument that to achieve evidence-based research and eventual use, there needs to be a purposeful health informatics learning strategy that recognises the role of computer and information literacy.

Mobile Technology in a Developing Context

This chapter presents the imperatives of mobile technologies in healthcare as these impact (or potentially) impact on development. It presents the contextual overview in development of the diffusion, penetration, and uptake of health-related mobile technologies. A consideration of the roles and responsibilities of the diaspora in the embracing of information and communication technologies is emphasized. The emphasis is on the impact of technologies, generally, and mobile technologies, specifically, in the global health context. The authors provide key exemplars of mobile technologies in development to increase understanding and demonstrate promising practices in this emergent field.

A Treatise on Rural Public Health Nursing

Nursing informaticists can be leaders in promoting prevention of illness and diseases in the 21st century. Developing an infrastructure for application of preventive and predicative models in healthcare delivery is paramount. This chapter stresses the need for rural regions to develop paradigmatic models for incorporating all aspect of the human ecology domain. While movement in public health nursing is contingent on improvement in public health interconnectivity, nurse informaticists need to develop a classification system for public health nursing, develop databases for evidence–based practice, and incorporate the rural culture in their work. Incorporation of genomics in daily nursing practice will soon be a reality. As consumer-driven healthcare becomes the reality, the platform for healthcare delivery will change. A change to care delivery in a variety of community sites with electronic information exchanges and personal health records will require robust work by informaticists. Remote monitoring devices in clients’ homes are another arena which will require a new set of skills for nursing interventionists.

Use of Handheld Computers in Nursing Education

The use of mobile technologies in nursing education is rapidly increasing. Handheld computers are the most frequently used of these technologies as they can provide students with information for point of care clinical reference, such as diagnostics, medical terminology, and drug references. Integrating the management and processing of information into clinical practice is an effective learning approach for students and reflects a changing paradigm in nursing education. Traditionally, nursing programs have the tendency to separate the acquisition of academic knowledge from clinical practice, and the process of integrating academic information into the decision making processes in the clinical area has been difficult for student nurses. This chapter will provide an overview of the use of handheld computers in nursing and medical education, including a brief synopsis of current use in clinical practice. It will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of their use, barriers to implementation and future directions.

The Roles of a Nurse in Telemedical Consultations

Telemedicine, or distant medical consultations using communication via electronic networks, is gradually becoming a standard of medical care delivery in distant areas worldwide, including both the most developed and the developing countries. For instance, in 2007, telemedical centres existed in 55% of the Russian regions (on average, about 4 centres in each region). In most of the cases, nurses are actively involved in the organization of various types of distant consultation. Main types of telemedical services include: (1) emergency consultations of patients by telephone, (2) telemedical consultations using videoconferences or store-and-forward systems, and (3) home telecare systems. Possible roles of nurses in different types of telemedical consultations are discussed.

Socio-Technical Structures, 4Ps and Hodges' Model

This chapter explores the potential of a conceptual framework – Hodges’ model – both as a socio-technical structure and means to explore such structures of relevance to nursing informatics theory and practice. The model can be applied universally by virtue of its structure and the content which it can encompass. In apprehending this chapter, readers will be able to draw, describe and explain the scope of Hodges’ model within contemporary healthcare contexts and the wider global issues presented by the 21st Century that influence and shape nursing informatics. Critically, the reader will also gain insight into how socio-technical structures can facilitate cross fertilization of clinical and informatics theory and practice; drawing attention to information as a concept that provides a bridge between socio-technical, clinical, and informatics disciplines. This chapter will review the socio-technical literature and venture definitions of socio-technical structures related to Hodges’ model and advocate the need for sociopolitical-technical structures. The chapter also proposes the 4Ps as a tool to facilitate reflection upon and the construction of socio-technical structures. The adoption and significance of the hyphenated form as per “socio-technical” will also be explained.

Simulations to AssessMedication Administration Systems

A range of new technologies/information systems are increasingly being used by nurses in healthcare organizations. These technologies/information systems are being implemented in clinical settings in order to reduce errors associated with the medication administration process. At present, few published articles report empirical findings on the effects of using electronic medication administration systems where nurses’ work is concerned. This chapter reports that there are both intended and unintended consequences, associated with implementing such systems in the clinical setting. Simulation methods can be used to assess the impact of integrating new technology/information systems into the nurses’ work environment prior to full-scale implementation of a health technology/information system. Simulations as an evaluative tool emerged from a direct need to assess unintended and intended consequences of health information systems upon nurses’ work before systems are fully implemented. Simulations, as an evaluative methodology, emerged from the cognitive-socio-technical literature. Methods for analyzing workflow and conducting simulations of user behavior can be used to assess and improve the cognitive-socio-technical fit of technologies/information systems. They can be used to identify work and workflow problems (i.e. unintended consequences) involving health technologies/information systems as they are designed, developed, procured, purchased and implemented. Nurse informatician use of simulations to assess and test health technologies/information systems will allow nurses to determine the impact of a new software and/or hardware upon aspects of nurses’ work before its implementation to allow for appropriate system modifications.

Shaping Funding Policy for Nursing Services

This chapter is about the major policy issue of nursing resource allocation for hospitals. Health service executives have different views about whether systems based on ratios or those based on patient dependency are more accurate. This chapter reports on a statistical analysis of almost 2 million hours of nursing data provided by 22 acute care public and private hospitals in Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand. The TrendCare informatics system was selected because it has the capacity to simultaneously measure nurse patient ratios and nursing workloads by a dependency method of nursing hours per patient day. The results showed that TrendCare predicts actual direct nursing care requirements with greater accuracy than ratios for all hospital and patient types, facilitating better allocation of nursing resources and demonstrating that the cost of nursing care would be less for hospitals using that system than for ratios. This is an important outcome for nursing informatics.