Nursing Informatics: Ethical Considerations for Adopting Electronic Records.

School districts are commonly adopting electronic storage systems, including electronic health records. Included in this adoption is a move toward cloud-based record storage systems to handle the increasing volumes of data. Deciding which system to adopt is especially difficult in times of tightening school district budgets. While there are several options to consider, including the outright purchase of a proprietary system or choosing one of a relatively new group of free programs, lead nurses must work to ensure that student information is protected and that any chosen system complies with privacy laws. This article provides a case study and presents legal and ethical considerations related to maintaining the privacy of health records in the school setting.

Implicaciones éticas del uso de aplicaciones informáticas en la gestión de cuidados de enfermería / Ethical implications of the use of computer applications for nursing care management

Objetivos: abordar la ética informática como cuestión necesaria en el cuidado de enfermería contemporáneo, algunas de las implicaciones éticas que tiene para la labor del profesional de enfermería, y su participación en la implementación de aplicaciones informáticas en los servicios de salud. Métodos: estudio documental; se consultó a expertos para obtener criterios relacionados con el propósito del mismo. Se reconsideraron las cuestiones éticas alrededor del manejo de la información, fundamentalmente la confidencialidad, integridad y accesibilidad que se debe asumir, a partir de que se introducen al trabajo profesional los aspectos relacionados con las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones. Conclusiones: aceptar a la informática en enfermería como naciente especialidad del campo de la informática en salud, conlleva al personal de enfermería a reconocer y prepararse para los retos profesionales que debe asumir de manera consciente y creadora, pues incorporar a su saber los elementos tecnológicos no es suficiente para ofrecer una atención en salud con calidad, en ello ocupa un lugar privilegiado el componente ético y relacional, que en este caso adquiere una connotación diferente en el uso de la información(AU)

Objectives: Approach computer ethics as a necessary component of contemporary nursing care, its ethical implications for the nursing professional, and the role of nurses in the implementation of computer applications in health services. Methods: A documentary study was conducted. Experts were consulted to collect their criteria on the subject. A reassessment was performed of the ethical aspects of information management, particularly confidentiality, integrity and accessibility, to be abided by when information and communications technology is incorporated into professional activity. Conclusions: Acceptance of nursing informatics as an emerging specialty in the field of health informatics requires awareness of and training for the professional challenges to be assumed by the nursing personnel in a conscious, creative manner. It is not enough to be aware of the new technological information to provide quality health care. An outstanding role is played by the ethical and relational components, which acquire a new connotation with the use of information technology(AU)

Nursing informatics and nursing ethics: addressing their disconnect through an enhanced TIGER-vision.

All healthcare visions, including that of The TIGER (Technology-Informatics-Guiding-Educational-Reform) Initiative envisage a crucial role for nursing. However, its 7 descriptive pillars do not address the disconnect between Nursing Informatics and Nursing Ethics and their distinct communities in the clinical-disciplinary landscape. Each sees itself as providing decision support by way of information inputs and ethical insights, respectively. Both have reasons - ideological, professional, institutional - for their task construction, but this simultaneously disables each from engaging fully in the point-of-(care)-decision. Increased pressure for translating 'evidence-based' research findings into 'ethically-sound', 'value-based' and 'patient-centered' practice requires rethinking the model implicit in conventional knowledge translation and informatics practice in all disciplines, including nursing. The aim is to aid 'how nurses and other health care scientists more clearly identify clinical and other relevant data that can be captured to inform future comparative effectiveness research. 'A prescriptive, theory-based discipline of '(Nursing) Decisionics' expands the Grid for Volunteer Development of TIGER's newly launched virtual learning environment (VLE). This provides an enhanced TIGER-vision for educational reform to deliver ethically coherent, person-centered care transparently.

Information and human freedom: nursing implications and ethical decision-making in the 21st century.

With globalization and the increasing volume of healthcare information available to people, questions surface as nurses contemplate and envision what role and how our nursing theory-guided discipline ought to be lived with colleagues of other disciplines, each other, and those we serve in the 21(st) century. This column begins a path of ethical exploration and possible implications for the opportunities and challenges associated with the information age in nursing research, practice, and education. Discussion focuses on the disciplinary responsibilities for information giving and receiving; coming to know, human freedom, and decision-making in the human-universe-health process.