A new informatics leadership course in the NHS in England is expected to provide 500 nurses, midwives and other allied health professionals, many of whom are at senior, deputy director of nursing, level with the knowledge and skills to consider the clinical leadership issues and impact on clinical practice of increasing use of information and technology. (1) The three-day “Leadership for Informed Practice” course, which is being delivered through full-day workshop and e-coaching support, is planned to address key aspects of clinical leadership and how clinical leaders can apply these to practice, so as to respond to changes in health care in the context of a changing political, professional and technical environment.
The scheme is supported by the Chief Nursing Officer and is delivered by the Clinical Division of the Department of Health Informatics Directorate (2) and hosted in different venues across the country. NHS Connecting for Health’s director of nursing, Susan Hamer, who has studied the impact of CNIOs in the USA, says that the courses are being presented “as a leadership programme, not as an informatics course”. (1) The course aims to help participants to think about informatics as a nursing and patient care issue, rather than as an IT issue, emphasising the role of information in quality, safety and engagement.
Among issues addressed in the course are recognising the impact that health informatics has on services, identifying how technology can be disruptive to nursing practice, and developing a new leadership model that integrates future changes to practice. In addition, participants are expected to demonstrate additional outcomes, including describing what a “meaningful use of data” is and analysing the implications for frontline practice, identifying organisations' leadership challenges relating to the management and use of information, and influencing the development of informatics in organisations through greater understanding of the policy context and the nature of information.
Sources
- Carlisle, D Senior nurses coached in IT leadership. E-Health Insider 2011, Nov. 11). Available online at
http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/acute-care/7306/senior-nurses-coached-in-it-leadership - NHS Connecting for Health. “Leadership for Informed Practice” events begin. 2011, Available online at http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/newsroom/news/lips