Module 1, Question 1 Response

Hello! My name is Brittany Bushman and I am in my second semester of the Acute Care DNP program. Information management as a graduate level nurse and also as a undergraduate level nurse is absolutely essential to provide appropriate patient care. Nursing and patient care isn't possible without information management, and whether we realize it or not while we are working, we are constantly managing data, even if it is simply in our minds. From my understanding from module one, information management includes observing and describing, collecting, recording and reporting, planning, and synthesizing data to create optimal outcomes for the patient and for all involved. I need to know how to manage information in order to, perhaps, look up lab values of my patient, give a shift report to the oncoming nurse, provide effective nursing and medical care to my patients in way of medication administration and symptom management, and document patient care, findings and changes in patient status for appropriate continuity of care and planning, etc. I have been guilty of complaining about the amount of charting that is required by certain hospitals or institutions, but at the end of the day, the documentation is necessary because if it isn't charted, it wasn't done! Effective information management can aid in quickening the process of documentation or information retrieval and allow the nurse more time for quality patient care. Information management also aids in the research end of nursing by documenting trends in medication administration or certain events within a specific research project. There is no end to the important role that information management plays in advanced practice nursing.