Introduction-Module 1

I am Natalie Huggard and I am in the PNP-DNP program. I have been a Nurse for 13 years and I have worked in many areas in the hospital. My favorite areas were in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, Same Day Surgery/Post Anesthesia Care Unit, and Pediatrics.

As a graduate level nurse I need to know about information management because it improves outcomes for patients, improves our clinical practice, and improve quality care.

I currently work in Same Day Surgery/Post Anesthesia Care Unit and access Xrays, pathology reports, lab results, history and physical, and ECG's. Our charting is all paper charting for the surgical services on the day of surgery. One thing that is monitored very closely in surgery is the time antibiotics are administered. SCIP guidelines dictate that antibiotics need to be administered 30 minutes prior to actual cut time for best outcomes of preventing infection. Our charts are audited and then the results are given to our manager. Our manager instructs the team on what changes we can do to improve our administration times.