Ada Lovelace: The First Computer Programmer and Why She Is Important to Nursing Informatics

Computers are ubiquitous to nursing and nursing practice, often in the form of electronic health records. Most nurses do not know the history of computers, how they were developed, or who the computing pioneers were that enabled the discipline of nursing to use this technology in its practices. Computers were first envisioned in the early 19th century, and one of the most influential computer programming visionaries was Ada Lovelace. It is important for the discipline of nursing to know Ada Lovelace, not only who she was, but also how her pioneering work influenced the history of computer technology. This article highlights the life of Ada Lovelace, her contributions to computer programming, and how her work paved the way for the use of computers in nursing and, ultimately, nursing informatics as a nursing specialty.

A Study to Determine Consensus for Nursing Documentation Reduction in Times of Crisis

Nurses faced numerous challenges during the pandemic, particularly with the increased burden of electronic documentation. Surges in patient volume and visits led to rapid changes in nursing documentation, prompting diverse responses from regulatory and healthcare organizations. Nurses expressed safety concerns and struggled with changes, calling for national standards and regulatory support. Policy relaxations, such as the 1135 Waiver, sparked debate on the future of nursing care plan documentation. Using mixed-methods exploratory design, the study identified modifications of nursing documentation during crises, commonalities in documentation burden reduction for applicability beyond pandemics, and consensus on the definition of “surge.” Documentation patterns were assessed from February to November 2022, involving 175 North American nurse leaders and informaticists. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, thematic analysis, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Significant differences were found between rural and urban settings (P = .02), with urban areas showing higher odds of changes to care plans (odds ratio, 4.889; 95% confidence interval, 1.27-18.78). Key findings highlighted the persistence of postcrisis documentation changes and varied definitions of surge criteria based on organizational leadership, policy, and mandates. The study yielded insights for modifying documentation, offering policy recommendations, and emphasizing ongoing collaboration and evidence-based approaches for future nursing practices.

Nurse and Physician Perceptions and Decision Making During Interdisciplinary Communication: Factors That Influence Communication Channel Selection

Errors in decision making and communication play a key role in poor patient outcomes. Safe patient care requires effective decision making during interdisciplinary communication through communication channels. Research on factors that influence nurse and physician decision making during interdisciplinary communication is limited. Understanding influences on nurse and physician decision making during communication channel selection is needed to support effective communication and improved patient outcomes. The purpose of the study was to explore nurse and physician perceptions of and decision-making processes for selecting interruptive or noninterruptive interdisciplinary communication channels in medical-surgical and intermediate acute care settings. Twenty-six participants (10 RNs, 10 resident physicians, and six attending physicians) participated in semistructured interviews in two acute care metropolitan hospitals for this qualitative descriptive study. The Practice Primed Decision Model guided interview question development and early data analysis. Findings include a core category, Development of Trust in the Communication Process, supported by three main themes: (1) Understanding of Patient Status Drives Communication Decision Making; (2) Previous Interdisciplinary Communication Experience Guides Channel Selection; and (3) Perceived Usefulness Influences Communication Channel Selection. Findings from this study provide support for future design and research of communication channels within the EHR and clinical decision support systems.

Clinical Knowledge Model for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Venous Thromboembolism

Knowledge models inform organizational behavior through the logical association of documentation processes, definitions, data elements, and value sets. The development of a well-designed knowledge model allows for the reuse of electronic health record data to promote efficiency in practice, data interoperability, and the extensibility of data to new capabilities or functionality such as clinical decision support, quality improvement, and research. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and validation of a knowledge model for healthcare-associated venous thromboembolism prevention. The team used FloMap, an Internet-based survey resource, to compare metadata from six healthcare organizations to an initial draft model. The team used consensus decision-making over time to compare survey results. The resulting model included seven panels, 41 questions, and 231 values. A second validation step included completion of an Internet-based survey with 26 staff nurse respondents representing 15 healthcare organizations, two electronic health record vendors, and one academic institution. The final knowledge model contained nine Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes panels, 32 concepts, and 195 values representing an additional six panels (groupings), 15 concepts (questions), and the specification of 195 values (answers). The final model is useful for consistent documentation to demonstrate the contribution of nursing practice to the prevention of venous thromboembolism.