6 December 2000

Informatics Role for Nurses - New course!

According to Associate Professor Evelyn Hovenga from Central Queensland University, who is a world authority on health informatics, the career prospects of Queensland nurses have been boosted thanks to their emerging role as the key information handlers within the health system.

Assoc. Prof. Hovenga said nurses needed to grasp the opportunity to add value to their career paths by claiming a stake as decision makers for electronic health records.

She said nurses who were keen to specialise in this area now had access to courses such as CQU's Bachelor of Nursing Informatics, which is available by distance education, or on campus at CQU's Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Mackay campuses.

Assoc. Prof. Hovenga said nursing informatics involved the integration of nursing and its information management with information processing and communication technologies to support the health of people worldwide.

She said there was increased recognition of the ability of electronic health records to improve the efficiency, safety and quality of care, compared with paper based systems.

"Nurses are being appointed to information management positions and other similar roles nation wide where they are expected to combine informatics responsibilities with other nursing duties" she said.

"Up until now there has been no educational program that prepares nurses to occupy such positions. The number of nurses employed in nursing informatics roles joining the private sector is on the increase, and this trend is expected to continue as information systems are becoming more commonplace in clinical areas of all sectors in the health care industry."

Registered nurses can complete the Bachelor of Nursing Informatics as a stand-alone addition to their qualifications.

The new program will be direct admission for Autumn 2001. From then on it will be through QTAC. All enquiries should be directed to 1300 360 444 or to Julie Bessell, the Course Enquiries Officer on (07) 4930 9225