Is Health Information Technology a HIT with Nurses?

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“Don’t design an information system and then say, ‘OK, now let’s change our workflow to make the system work.’ First, design the most effective workflow that delivers safe, efficient, high-quality patient care. Then ask ‘How will this system enable me to do that?”‘ —Linda Burnes Bolton, vice president and chief nursing officer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles

Health information technology (HIT): it’s a hugely complicated topic and, with $19 billion in federal stimulus funds accelerating its adoption by medical offices and hospitals, it’s going to have an increasing impact on the way nurses do their jobs over the next few years. […]

2016-11-21T13:25:04-05:00July 20th, 2009|digital health, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Bloggers Write about Living with Post–Breast Cancer Lymphedema

This month AJN features the first of a two-part article on post–breast cancer lymphedema, a debilitating sequelae to treatment for breast cancer that’s characterized by the abnormal accumulation of lymph in the arm, shoulder, breast, or chest. In editing this article, I was struck by the sense of isolation reported by many of those who develop this condition, which can be visibly disfiguring and functionally disabling, and for which there is no cure. I wondered whether any survivors were using the blogosphere to forge connections. Here's what I found . . .

2016-11-21T13:26:09-05:00June 30th, 2009|healthcare social media, nursing perspective, nursing research|1 Comment
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How Secure Are Your Medical Records? Farrah Fawcett Discusses Possible Breaches in Patient Confidentiality By Health Care Providers

“As time went on and more stories appeared, Fawcett said she grew convinced that information about her medical condition was being leaked by someone at UCLA. Whenever she sought treatment there, word always got out. Even when the tabloid reports were false, she said, they were based on a morsel of truth.”

Photo by k.steudel, via Flickr.

ProPublica‘s Charles Ornstein has conducted an interview (co-published yesterday in the Los Angeles Times; the article includes a short video) with Farrah Fawcett about living with a terminal illness under constant media scrutiny. Fawcett has been particularly critical of the National Enquirer, and of UCLA Medical Center for not protecting her medical records from employees who may have been releasing information to the media. At one point, she even set a trap to prove her suspicions were correct. As the Obama administration makes digitized health records a priority in its health care reform plans, how might this affect patient privacy, and are you (and your institutions) ready for the issues that might arise?

–Jacob Molyneux, AJN senior editor

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2016-11-21T13:29:14-05:00May 12th, 2009|digital health, health care policy|1 Comment
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New Nurses Blogging: The Dedicated, the Feisty, the Sleep-Deprived

Hospital by boliston / Adrian Boliston, via Flickr.

When I went looking for blogs by student nurses recently, I found plenty—but most appeared to be deserted, as if their authors had literally packed up and moved away after graduation. That’s understandable—and kind of a shame. Things can get interesting fast when one finds oneself suddenly working with real people in an ED or an ICU. Lucky for us, a few newly minted nurses are blogging on just that. (To comply with HIPAA regulations, most bloggers report that they alter patient details and scenarios.)

At Call Bells Make Me Nervous, Maha, “a shiny new nurse” (degree unspecified), blogs […]

2016-11-21T13:30:03-05:00May 8th, 2009|career, healthcare social media, nursing perspective, students|1 Comment
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The Triple Talents of Some Nurse Bloggers

Yellow Triage Flower by zayzayem / Michael Zimmer, via Flickr.

Being very good at anything takes a lot of work. I’m impressed as all-get-out by people who get to be really good at, say, nursing. Or writing a blog. Or juggling. Or welding. I’m especially awed by people who get to be really good at more than one thing. In drifting through the blogosphere this week, I’ve come across some nurses with triple-threat skill sets, as it were. Have a look! […]

2016-11-21T13:33:33-05:00April 24th, 2009|career, healthcare social media, nursing perspective|1 Comment
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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