Nursing information for electronic clinical exchange (NIECE)

Abstract

The value of clinical nursing information is not just within professional care delivery, but as a source for educational and professional development for practitioners. At the core of this argument is the informative connection nurses make through discussion, questioning and reflecting together. Nurses contribute to the production of much healthcare information; there is a danger, however, of their own expert information and knowledge being subsumed. There are ways to move forward: through facilitating the capture of nursing’s ‘professional’ information, organizing a nurses’ system, and establishing a nursing information electronic clinical exchange. This ‘living’ encyclopaedia would revalue knowledge and experience and support professional information development for the benefit of healthcare delivery. The issue for nurses becoming involved in electronic information exchange is the need for support from their healthcare organizations to facilitate professional networking. A nurses’ information system needs to be ‘open’, though managed within a ‘closed’ organizational environment. Informal networking does not serve the purpose of exchanging ‘professional’ information at the workface. This demands new approaches. Worldwide healthcare professions are examining ways in which communication can be more effective and the electronic networking of a nurses’ information system is right for this age in healthcare.