Applying Nursing Standards and Principles toward the Improvement of Healthcare
The practice change required in managing chronic disorders involves utilizing a computerized decision support system to improve the management of the disorders. Chronic illnesses are the leading cause of disability and mortality globally. Chronic illnesses are also associated with rising healthcare costs. The illnesses are mainly managed in a primary care setting and require long-term management. According to line El Asmar et al. (2021), the chronic model recommends decision support systems as one of the applicable changes that can be implemented in the primary care setting to promote better patient outcomes. The decision support systems facilitate making informed and accurate decisions about diagnosis and treatment regimes. The system can improve outcomes as primary healthcare providers are more likely to make better decisions in managing chronic illnesses. The system can also increase safety by providing reminders and alerts to healthcare providers when there are errors in their clinical decisions, for example, the prescription of the wrong medication, wrong diagnosis, or inaccurate interpretation of laboratory tests (line El Asmar et al., 2021). The system will support the nurse role outlined in provision four which states that nurses’ responsibility is to promote, advocate, and protect patients’ health, rights, and safety (Haddad & Geiger, 2021).
The proposed practice change will be effective as even the nurse practitioners will engage with the system fully since they have full practice authority in New York. Nurse practitioners in New York have full practice authority; they practice independently and can diagnose and prescribe most medications for chronic illnesses. The system will therefore utilize the system in practice as primary care providers. The principles of non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice will also guide the professionals. Patients will be included in the healthcare team designing management plans and will be involved in decision-making due to their right to autonomy (Haddad & Geiger, 2021). Healthcare professionals must protect patient information to protect patients from harm that can result from unauthorized access to patient information based on the principle of non-maleficence (Lee, 2017).
Healthcare providers must work together for the system to be effective. There is a need for collaboration between physicians, nurses, and medical laboratory technicians. For example, the technicians are expected to send laboratory results through the electronic health record software for the provider to review the results and interpret the test results using the DSS. All healthcare providers will be required to update accurate medical records and information about the patient to ensure that complete and accurate patient data is available for informed decisions. The system heavily relies on the available information in the hospital database. Communication between professionals will therefore be essential.
References
Haddad, L. M., & Geiger, R. A. (2021). Nursing Ethical Considerations. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526054/
Lee, L. M. (2017). Ethics and subsequent use of electronic health record data. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, pp. 71, 143–146. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1532046417301211
line El Asmar, M., Dharmayat, K. I., Vallejo-Vaz, A. J., Irwin, R., & Mastellos, N. (2021). Effect of computerized, knowledge-based, clinical decision support systems on patient-reported and clinical outcomes of patients with chronic disease managed in primary care settings: a systematic review. BMJ open, 11(12), e054659. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/12/e054659.abstract