“Healthcare Informatics is defined as “the integration of healthcare sciences, c

“Healthcare Informatics is defined as “the integration of healthcare sciences, computer science, information science, and cognitive science to assist in the management of healthcare information” (Sweeny, 2017). Ultimately, the data obtained is utilized to improve patient care. A scenario that would involve accessing data to facilitate both problem-solving and knowledge formation would be fall prevention in the hospital setting. This scenario involves a nurse manager of an emergency department who has recently received a report that the number of falls in the department last month had doubled from the month prior. The nurse manager and nurse leaders would be utilizing collected data (how the falls are occurring) and applying it with the implementation of new and updated fall prevention practices in the department (requiring staff to complete fall risk assessments on all patients and an education refresher on fall prevention). The reports describing the falls and surrounding events are the data pertaining to how the falls are occurring. This would involve the team sifting through reports via the hospital’s reporting database to determine the root cause of the fall. Then, by compiling this data, nurse leaders use clinical judgment to apply it to the nursing practices within the department with a focus on improving patient outcomes. Scenarios such as this one are examples of nursing informatics. Who better to collect data and apply it to practice than someone who knows where to look because they have experience in that practice? “The Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatic Specialist” states that it is clear that the role of nursing informatics specialists will continue to evolve at an increasingly rapid rate in the coming years.