Future of Nursing Informatics in Trinidad and Tobago Telehealth Services

INTRODUCTION

The definition of Nursing Informatics as outlined by Staggers & Thompson in 2002 defined Nursing Informatics as a combination of computer science, information science and nursing science design to assist in the management and processing of nursing data information and knowledge to support the practice of nursing and the delivery of patient care. This combination helps to bring system information, nursing knowledge, clinical decision making and support and data into the nursing field, whereby the needs of patients are translated into computer programs so that all members of the health care team will have access to the necessary information when it is required thus resulting into a more effective, efficient and less time consuming health care system and enhancing the productivity of nursing care.

HISTORY

Before the intervention of the modern computerized technology system, information was access through books, telephone, field trips and person to person enquiries. These information, were stored through the filling system which takes a long time and can easily be misplaced. The information was then made available to other health care professional through search and find in the filling cabinet coded by individual identification numbers and or by colors. There was a big disadvantage to this system, individuals who did not have the right to access these files sometimes access them for their own personal reasons and then the same files went missing.

SHIFT IN THE SYSTEM

Due to the introduction of sciences, the health care system has been shifting from the manual to computerized system. Technology has become such an embedded artifact in the care of patients, that often the current patient care literature highlights computers and other modern devices as nursing tools, that are used and control by health care professionals with the sole aim of providing the most effective care for our patients. Manual procedures are replaced by use of computerized devices.

DEVELOPMENTS

Since the development of the computer and internet system, there has been great improvement in the accessibility of data and the safety, availability, accessibility of patient’s information. There is no longer any need to carry around large stack of files to get patient history, it can be easily obtained on the patients record on the computer minimizing the paper files that are available to work with, another advantage is that research can be done in the comfort of your home because almost every home and individual has a computer and seeing that it is so easy and convenient to use, many individuals such as nurses and the public, surf the internet to obtain information, to enhance their knowledge.