The first experience that comes to mind for me with regard to interactions as a nurse informaticist within my organization would be collaborating and communicating with the regional immunization consultant for the primary practice in which I currently work. It is my responsibility to communicate with the regional immunization consultant for all three of our locations. We discuss benchmarks for reaching the recommended ACIP guidelines for children vaccinations from birth to 4 years of age and then from 10 to 13 years of age. I revisit these benchmarks every six months and I am able to pull aggregated data showing children who attend our practice who meet benchmark requirements and those who don’t.

This past year has been different, however, due to COVID; therefore, I had to perform this meeting via zoom meeting on my cellphone. The desktop I utilize does not include a camera, so it was more efficient for me to conduct the meeting via my cellphone. I utilize the state public health website to pull these benchmark reports. Because these consultations are carried out to improve immunization metrics for the state, I would like to think of myself as a knowledge worker, as a consumer, broker, and generator. Knowledge consumers are mainly users of knowledge who do not have the expertise to provide the knowledge they need for themselves (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018, p. 544). Before my first meeting with the regional immunization consultant, three years ago, I had no idea what a benchmark report was or even how to access it. With the knowledge gained from the regional immunization consultant I became a knowledge consumer. At the same time, I became a knowledge broker because I was shown how to access the data and information during my first session. I also became a knowledge generator because after our session, I took it upon myself and not under the direction of the regional consultant, to implement using the data to reach out to parents whose children didn’t meet the metrics. I either called them in for a needed physical, immunization visit if they have already had their yearly physical or make the child inactive in our EHR and our state immunization registry if they no longer attended the practice. I have been implementing this project since and have brought other coworkers on board for carrying out this project. Knowledge brokers know where to find information and knowledge; they generate some knowledge but are mainly known for their ability to find what is needed (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018, p. 544). Knowledge generators are the primary sources of knowledge (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018, p. 544).

As the regional consultant was the reason for my idea to implement utilizing the benchmark reports to reach out to those who were in need of a practice visit or to make them inactive in our organization, I am not sure other primary pediatric practices are doing the same after their consultation with the regional immunization consultant. The regional consultant is not a nurse but possess a degree in health administration. The consultant’s knowledge with respect to his or her position is far greater than mine but as a nurse informaticist and knowledge worker, one could further provide insight on what to do with the information after it is obtained. Instead of focusing on numbers and metrics, a nurse can see how it is important to the public health that children are properly vaccinated for health reasons and not just to improve numbers. Our meetings are usually me, the regional immunization consultant, and the practice manager. One strategy that might improve communication and knowledge with respect to meeting vaccination requirements, maybe to include the physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners that practice in the office in the meetings since they are usually the ones who recommend vaccinations during their patient encounters. I act as a knowledge disseminator to them at this point, since they are not included in the meetings.

While project management as nursing informatic skills are more the expectations of healthcare providers and nursing leadership, there remains a lack of understanding of what these are and how they are an essential competency of nursing informatics (Sipes, 2016, p. 253). Portraying how nursing informatics and its continuance to evolve help gather information with regard to ensuring public health in just a matter of minutes and the need for an increase of collaboration amongst the professionals in my current workplace will allow more for insight of how nursing informatics contribute to new knowledge that will assist in expanding their own practice. Use and adaptation of strategies may offer a way for nursing leadership to guide and influence future solutions (Mosier, Dan Roberts, & Englebright, 2019, p. 547).

References

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning LLC.

Mosier, S., Dan Roberts, W., & Englebright, J. (2019). A Systems-Level Method for Developing Nursing Informatics Solutions The Role of Executive Leadership. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(11), 543-548. DOI: 10.1097/NNA.0000000000000815

Sipes, C. (2016). Project Management: Essential Skill of Nurse Informaticists. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 225, 252-256. doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-658-3-252