Kimberly A. Derico
Fairmont State University
Title: Making Informatics Come to Life Through Assessment: Linking assessment and documentation education in the classroom
Biography
Biography: Kimberly A. Derico
Abstract
Informatics, which is defined by QSEN as: Using information and technology to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision making; is one of the core competencies for nursing set forth by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) faculty. One of the QSEN core skills linked to informatics is documenting and planning patient care in the electronic medical record (EMR), a skill that can be confusing to a beginning nursing student. Nursing students can also become easily confused when learning assessment skills in the classroom, but accurate assessment skills must be achieved in order to complete accurate documentation. When assessing a patient, distinquishing what the assessment findings are and what should be documented in the electronic EMR to clearly communicate the findings are special skills that are vital to the nursing role, communication among care team members and patient safety. Linking these two skills in a real-life, fun and innovative way in the classroom can make for better overall understanding of each skill and its importance to safe patient care.