Evidenced-based research shows that health care informatics incorporating information technology [IT] will enhance patient safety by standardizing, flagging errors, and eliminating handwritten data. As such, the incorporation of MiNurse technology eliminated redundancies and duplication of documentation, reduced errors, eliminated interruptions for missing supplies, equipment, and medications, and eased access to data thereby allowing the nurse time to care for patients. In addition, the MiNurse smart device closed the gap in the number of errors which occurred but was not being reported. Medical personnel once feared to report errors because of retributions or being used as a scapegoat. Thus, many errors would not be reported which created a sizable gap in achieving high-quality care. Furthermore, MiNurse provides a large pool of patient data for clinical research allowing for more practical evidence-based treatments.
Since the installation of the MiNurse smart device, evidenced-based practice from real-time data has shown much of the care delivered in the healthcare system is direct nursing care. This realization of the value nurses adds to the healthcare system thrust nurses into the forefront of healthcare. This shift necessitated the nursing process be changed from traditional thinking, that viewed patients as a collection of parts, to view patients as a holistic being. Data collected and analyzed from MiNurse captured real-time data of nurses’ actions which lead to developing new continuing education and training programs for nurses.
In the past, nurse’s used a clipboard then went to a computer to input information. This practice changed to electronic medical records as was mandated by law. Today, MiNurse allows the nurse to remain with the patient with very little distraction from the environment, including having to document on a computer. The phrase; if it was not documented it was not done, is obsolete as MiNurse records the patient encounter from the time of registration at a care matric facility to the time of discharge. The detailed data generated from the MiNurse report of nurses’ usage in the system, allows for continuous education; as opposed to annual mandatory training via a computer-based program or from organizations. MiNurse made it easy and accessible for RN’s to continue as lifelong learners by having available appropriate and developmental continuing education to maintain and advance their practice in a fast-paced dynamic healthcare environment.
Interprofessional, or team-based care, is now the standard of practice thanks to MiNurse. This came about because MiNurse allowed providers to be connected with updates and reviews of patients assigned to them. With nurses being full partners to physicians and other healthcare professionals, redesigning healthcare in the United States had far-reaching implications for the safety and quality of healthcare provided around the globe. This improvement in safety and quality of health care, including nursing care, as evidenced by marginal errors recorded on MiNurse fact sheets of error reporting. Due to the improved educational accessibility and capability, nurses have the ability to replay nurse-patient interactions flagged for improvement. This, in turn, drove the evidenced-based practice research engine which today continuously infuses better ways of caring for patients; thus, improving patient outcomes significantly. More autonomy, job satisfaction, and a higher value placed on the nursing profession became factors which facilitated closing the gap in the nursing shortage experienced in prior years. Other areas which were positively impacted were the development and use of nursing evidence, as well as evidence produced by other disciplines, with relevance to nursing practice. Nurses have a substantive and essential role in improving the quality of health and have made significant strides in providing high-quality care.