The Role of Nursing Informaticists in Evidence-Based Practice Initiatives

[Sean Forster]

With a strong urgency to improve compliance in care plans, the nursing leadership team at White Plains Hospital decided to take action by appointing a nurse informaticist to manage the shift in care plan compliance. When conducting an evaluation of its current state, White Plains Hospital found that the care plan utilization rate was only 58%. Additionally, they found that the care plans were not specific to any intervention resulting in wide variations in care practices. After seeing the high utilization rates in evidence-based order sets at their organization, nurse informaticists and the nursing leadership team decided to implement evidence-based care plans from Zynx Health.

White Plains decided to align its care plan implementation with a recent upgrade. The process began with strategic planning sessions to ensure that White Plains Hospital was well prepared for the rapid care plan implementation process. By June of 2013, a care planning council was formed and consisted of interdisciplinary team members that made up the patient care process including respiratory, nursing, informatics, nutrition, physical therapy, and care management to name a few. The results were astounding with 55 care plans customized in just 3 days based on the most current and relevant evidence provided by Zynx Health. A chart review in October 2013 immediately following implementation showed a 90% utilization rate. That utilization rate increased to 95% by November 2013. User satisfaction increased across both novice and veteran clinicians.

The success of this rapid implementation and the increase in care plan utilization rates is attributed to:

1. the staunch support of the nursing leadership team

2. nurse informaticists who brought with them a rich history of experience as staff nurses and informaticists that helped bridge the communication gap between clinicians and informaticists

3. the formation of an interdisciplinary care planning council that was made up of staff who touch the lives of a patient at the point of care

4. the adoption of a more meaningful and efficient care plan model: Zynx Health’s philosophical, conceptual, and operational approach to customize care plans focuses on the current patient problem that prevents the patient from moving to the next level of care rather than everything a patient might encounter during the care process

Join Romina Hipolito and Clarissa Tojos from White Plains Hospital and Grant Campbell from Zynx Health on Thursday, May 15 at 2pm ET for a complimentary webinar and learn how your organization can use nurse informaticists to implement evidence-based, interdisciplinary, care guidance.

During this Webinar, you’ll learn:

• The value of nurse informaticists in driving compliance of care plans

• Strategies to gain consensus on care plans and evidence-based CDS

• The best ways to influence strategic initiatives like Meaningful Use Stage 2

Improving Patient Outcomes With Evidence-Based Nursing Informatics

Date: May 15, 2014

Time: 11AM PST/2PM ET

Click Here to RSVP!