понедельник, 17 сентября 2012 г.

Nursing Informatics: Where Caring and Technology Meet. - Journal of School Health

Nursing Informatics: Where Caring and Technology Meet

Ball MJ, Hannah KJ, Jelger VG, Peterson H (eds). New York, Springer-Verlag, 1988.

This book is the first volume in a proposed series on computers in nursing based on the Computers in Health Care series for the health professions. Its purpose is to expand the horizons of health care professionals who have rudimentary knowledge and experience in health care computing. It is not meant to compete with available computing primers and textbooks.

The material is comprehensive in scope ranging from the definition of informatics, integrating nursing and informatics, new roles for nurses in information systems, and unified nursing language systems, to computer applications in nursing research and nursing education. A new graduate level of nursing specialization in nursing informatics initiated at the University of Maryland in 1988 is described.

As many authors in the book reiterate, information technology changes rapidly and one book can only be a snapshot of the state of the art as it exists at that particular time. It is unreasonable, therefore, to expect that every new computing technologic advance can be included. Nonetheless, for the person with a basic knowledge of computerized information systems, this book provides a wide though general view of the many and varied application possibilities as well as career opportunities in the field. The section on new roles for nurses such as product manager, market support person, management engineer, and programmer/systems analyst with health care information sysetms is presented as combining nursing expertise with informatics knowledge and skills. This phenomenon will probably add to the ongoing debate on whether such roles are actually nursing or non-nursing roles but accurately depicts an increasing development in career options for nurses.

The organization of the book was somewhat confusing and made it difficult to follow a logical progression. The two sections, Nursing Informatics and Where Caring and Technology Meet, were units that were further divided into chapters. The total 'contents array' in the introductory section was welcome and would have made the book 'reader friendly' except that chapter numbering (consecutive) did not follow the book chapter numbers (non-consecutive). Adding to the confusion, the chapter titles in the 'contents array' were not the same as the actual chapter titles, though the content was consistent. Finally, if each unit introduction were numbered and titled, it may have prevented the misplacement of the first unit introductory page of the book with the last one. Minor discrepancies such as the misspelling of the generally accepted laser videodisc (with a 'c' as in the photograph) rather than the magnetic 'disk' (with a 'k') do not detract from the overall quality of the book.

This first book in a planned series would serve as an extensive and helpful reference source for those interested in the integration of information systems with nursing. The appendices on nursing system requirements, site visit checklist, and computer assisted instruction software are particularly useful as a resource. This volume is probably more suitable for, and should be available in, libraries and learning centers, rather than for individual acquisition, because of the rapid advances being made in the field and not due to any shortcomings of the book.

Dorothy S. Oda, RN, DNSc, FASHA, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Dept. of Mental Health, Community and Administrative Nursing, University of California.