The Role of Nursing Informatics in Indian Healthcare: Bridging the Gap Between Technology and Care

The Role of Nursing Informatics in Indian Healthcare: Bridging the  Gap Between Technology and Care


In an era where everything is being digitized or computerized, no field can be left unchanged.  This is more so with nursing informatics, which is a growing area very recently introduced in developing countries. Nursing informatics is a health informatics specialty that improves healthcare delivery in the country, though still nascent in India.

How is the importance of nursing informatics undermined?

• Nursing informatics is a science that combines nursing and information science in the issues of supporting nursing care, clinical decision-making, and organizational information. The American Nurses Association (ANA) explains that it involves the use of information technology in a way that improves patient care and the practice of healthcare. Nursing informatics in India, which is witnessing an improvement in the healthcare system infrastructure, will prove to be imperative in improving the interaction of health workers with technology.

Current State of Healthcare IT in India

• EHR, telemedicine, and other aspects of IT are beginning to be integrated into the healthcare system in India, which is an improvement. Centrally controlled EHR  program, but volume growth will tend to snap in Ethe HR. Unfortunately, a report by  McKinsey revealed that as little as a fifth to a third of healthcare providers in India employ digital instruments (DMI), and it is mostly in private hospitals. Lady  Healthcare Worker under programs like Ayushman Bharat NDHM is also assisting the movement towards digital transformation in the healthcare sector.

Role of Nursing Informatics in Improving Health Care Provision

Ideally, nursing informatics offers great prospects for enhancing the effectiveness of patient care due to alterations in documentation and the availability of patient information. The nurses took a lot of time on paperwork; hence, they could sometimes be wrong or slow in administering treatments. By using informatics, a nurse is capable of retrieving a patient's current information, reducing the probability of making incorrect decisions. For instance, Clinical Decision Support Systems  (CDSS) may assist nurses in monitoring patient conditions in real-time, thereby decreasing medication errors. Data from the United States demonstrates that the use of  EHR and CDSS has resulted in decreased errors by 30% and improved patient outcomes.  India can have similar enhancements to the nursing informatics advances.

Training and Education for Nurse Informatics

• It is important for any nurse who wants to venture into this field to have a combination of clinical skills and information technology skills. India is quite progressive with nursing education, but when it comes to these specialized areas like nursing informatics, there is still a lot of space. At present, most universities and colleges do not have postgraduate programs, which include the health informatics courses, although with the growth in the need for information technology, universities will be coming up with various programs. Those interested in this area should consider getting an intern’s certification from bodies like the ANCC or taking short courses in HCIT. In the coming years, because more healthcare systems in India are turning digital, advanced informatics education will be needed.

The Role of Nursing Informatics in the Future of Nursing in India

• The future of nursing informatics in India seems to remain bright. The government’s efforts to facilitate the employment of a digital health care system and the expansion of private health care facilities, introducing technology requirements to their future hospitals, all contribute to the success of the informatics nurse career path. The  COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the advancement of telemedicine, EHR, and remote monitoring, so establishing IT roles is pertinent in healthcare. It is estimated that the ratio of demand for healthcare IT professionals, including informatics nurses among them, will grow to 30–40% in the succeeding five-year period. With the shift towards digital healthcare, informatics nurses will be instrumental in making sure that those technologies are implemented correctly to advance the care given to patients.

Conclusion 

Nursing informatics is a progressive and challenging area of practice that has emerged as a viable specialty for nurses in India, where technology plays an increasing part in satisfying health needs and improving the delivery of services. It is a relatively new field, but the market for informatics nurses should expand quickly in the coming years due to the changes in India’s health care system. By choosing this particular specialization, such nurses will be able to greatly influence the development of the future healthcare system of the country.