Lynn M. Nagle

Standardizing nursing information in Canada for inclusion in electronic health records: C-HOBIC.

The Canadian Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care (C-HOBIC) project introduced systematic use of standardized clinical nursing terminology for patient assessments. Implemented so far in three Canadian provinces, C-HOBIC comprises an innovative model for large-scale capture of standardized nursing-sensitive clinical outcomes data within electronic health records (EHRs). To support this activity, nursing assessment and outcomes concepts were mapped to the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP(R)). By comparing serial data on a patient across multiple time points, the C-HOBIC model can generate nursing-sensitive patient outcome reports. A principle benefit of the C-HOBIC model is that it provides nurses with information critical to planning for and evaluating patient care. Inclusion of nursing information in either provincial databases or EHRs in three Canadian provinces promotes continuity of patient care across sectors of the healthcare systems in those provinces and also facilitates aggregation and analysis by administrators and policy makers. The C-HOBIC model provides standardized, consistent, interoperable clinical information that reflects nursing practice throughout the Canadian healthcare System.

Are You Culturally Competent

The practice of nursing today demands that the nurse identify and meet the cultural needs of diverse groups, understand the social and cultural reality of the client, family, and community, develop expertise to implement culturally acceptable strategies to provide nursing care, and identify and use resources acceptable to the client (Andrews and Boyle 2002).

Ask “WHY NOT?” Not “WHAT IF?”

The editor-in-chief asks: with strong evidence in favour of collaborative practice, why has it not yet been adopted across the system? What is holding it back?

Everybody Knows Somebody

Over the course of the last two decades, much progress has been made in the approaches to the care of people with mental health and addiction challenges. Yet there is still more work to do in terms of advocacy and the provision of meaningful and effective support for these individuals.

Evaluating Nurses' Use of HOBIC in Home Care

Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care (HOBIC), a program funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, introduces a collection of evidence-based clinical outcome measures reflective of nursing care. The authors report on an evaluation of the experiences of nurse early adopters of HOBIC in home care. The findings reveal challenges and nuances associated with the introduction of HOBIC and the use of supporting technologies in the delivery of home nursing care. Future implementation efforts should focus on optimizing the usability of technology and the usefulness of HOBIC in nursing practice. In addition, efforts need to be directed at supporting the full integration and use of HOBIC outcome data by nurses and management personnel to inform practice directions.

Information Technology Developments: Issues for Nursing

In literature of recent years, nurse authors have used the term “information technology” synonymously with automation and computerization. The phrase “nursing information system” has been used by many to generically describe systems which support nursing activities in administration, practice, research, and education. According to Saba and McCormick [1], a nursing information system is: