Systems, Solutions, and Workflows Designed by Nurse Informaticists
The Journey of Nurse Informaticists & Orchestration of Social Care
Nursing Has Evolved with the Expansion of Technology
With the expansion of technology, a natural partnership between information sharing and healthcare has created space for a much-needed specialty: the nurse informaticist.
New technologies enable nurse informaticists, health plans, providers, and community-based resource organizations to:
- Combat common social determinants of health barriers.
- Advance towards health equity.
- Efficiently minimize costs.
- Improve overall quality outcomes.
The Power of Data: Population Health & Community Level
Nurse informaticists are leveraging publicly sourced data to better understand the population and community they serve.
Key population health data allows nurse informaticists to:
- Create cohorts of individuals who need focused care.
- Add alerts for cohorts and best-practice interventions.
- Measure a population's needs.
- Identify and analyze potential risk factors.
- Collaborate seamlessly with community-engagement to map out resources.
How Nurse Informaticists Are Leveraging Data
Crucial data orchestrated by healthcare enterprise management platforms are helping healthcare teams provide more appropriate services. For example:
- Alerts are triggered for a patient/member who has not engaged with a PCP in a year but has had multiple emergency room visits (superuser).
- Addresses are linked, so nurse informaticists can place an entire household at risk if one patient/member is identified as “at risk.”
- Utilizing evidence-based o improve the Quintuple Aim.
- Leveraging healthcare information technology to drive best practice workflows and outcomes.
Improving Behavioral Health & Substance Abuse Support
Nurse informaticists are becoming involved in initiatives brought forth by the 1115 waiver to connect individuals to supported community integration services and specialized behavioral health entities that help with:
- Gainful employment.
- Stabilized housing.
- Clean living.
- Mental health challenges and substance abuse.
- Justice-Involved.
- Food insecurity.
Heightening LGBTQ Communities & Lowering Health Disparities
Nurse informaticists are inserting culturally competent training into systems to educate staff on disparities in healthcare for LGBTQ+ patients.
To create an inclusive environment, nurse informaticists are:
- Ensuring electronic documents and assessments have specific fields to capture pronouns and gender.
- Researching statistically relevant data to provide proactive, systematic approaches to care. For example, LGBTQ youth are overrepresented among young people experiencing homelessness and housing instability in the United States.
- Incorporating gender identity data collection to ensure patient safety, i.e., prescription registration for treating severe acne could prevent teratogenicity among people who can become pregnant and do not identify as female.
Taking the Proactive Approach with Individuals at Risk for SDOH
Nurse informaticists are providing end users with recommendations to proactively "get ahead" of individuals at risk for social determinants of health.
Nurse informaticists:
- Stay current with regulatory (state and federal) policy changes.
- Analyze data to put proactive interventions in place.
- Identify at-risk individuals and add rules-driven actions and interventions to provide them with the best outreach, education, and support services available.
- Get ahead of an individual's needs, design and execute a care plan, increase trust and engagement, and keep them from falling through the cracks.
- Reduce healthcare disparities and lower avoidable healthcare spending.
How Interoperability Is Helping
Nurse informaticists are beginning to understand how interoperability across IT systems plays a major role in addressing SDOH challenges and filling gaps in care.
Interoperability is:
- Maximizing the use of mobile technology to bring healthcare to the homeless
- Bridging together online and offline capabilities.
- Creating pop-up clinics.
- Heightening health education and member engagement.
- Connecting healthcare team to resources, support, and follow-up care that was previously difficult to access.
- Enhancing the monitoring health and behavioral conditions.
- Advancing risk stratification by pulling crucial member information into the core system where it can be shared.
ZeOmega provides healthcare organizations with population health management solutions, including care management solutions , including an SDOH platform and more. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
