Communication with nurses affected by new IT implementations is an issue and will become a risk without appropriate action, IT professionals have been warned.
Bernice Baker a nursing lecturer at Bournemouth University and co-founder of the e-health nurses network called for a strategic approach to bringing nurses into IT change programmes.
The benefits would be great, she predicted. “If you get nurses involved they will get others involved. We are a powerful group that you ignore at your peril,” she said.
The discussion at the Eyeforhealth conference ‘Successful implementation of the National Programme for IT’ in London last week was sparked by a nurse in the audience who warned about the low levels of engagement among nurses.
A panel member in the discussion, Adrian McDermott, deputy chief information officer for Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority, said: “It’s probably one of the opportunities we are failing to grasp at the moment.” He spoke of the need to make IT-enabled change relevant to nurses.
Session chair, Colin Jervis, interim director of IT at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, agreed. “You have to make IT systems to inspire nurses to use them to improve care. Nurses are, in my experience, the key to this. Once you’ve got them on side, they have a powerful influence on other clinicians.”
Andy Hadley, informatics programme manager, East Dorset NHS Trust, said communication was not help by secrecy surrounding the NHS modernisation programme. “This has changed and is changing, but not enough,” he said.
The e-health nurses network, first established by a small group of nurses in 2000, is an independent initiative, open to all nurses and health and social care colleagues with an interest in developing e-health to maximise the professional delivery of effective patient care.
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