Nurses demand a voice in healthcare information technology planning

[rwingo]

http://www.govhealthit.com/article94782-06-12-06-Print

Already armed with computers-on-wheels, digital charts and other high-tech medical instruments, nurses and nursing organizations say they’re ready to embrace the potentially sweeping changes in high-tech health care delivery that lie ahead.

However, they say the tendency of hospital managers and government policy-makers to exclude nurses from the design and planning of health information technology means that new health care delivery systems might not be as effective as possible, especially in the critical area of bedside patient care.

“There is a lack of understanding in regard to the impact new [health IT] mandates will have on nurses and what nurses can bring to the table. Currently, we don’t have a voice in Washington,” said Joyce Sensmeier, vice president of informatics at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). “Physicians give orders, but nurses are working at the grass-roots level to make it happen. It is critical that we be at the table.”