Nursing informatics has been evolving over the past several decades and is defined as “a specialty that integrates nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). There are many areas in the nursing profession where nursing knowledge is utilized by informatics specialists to improve workflow for medical staff as well as patient outcomes.
I currently work in a neonatal ICU where our unit works closely with labor and delivery and the mother-baby unit. There are instances where infants are born to mothers who have the diagnosis of chorioamnionitis. These neonates are subject to develop early-onset sepsis that can occur within the first 72 hours of life. Early detection and the need for blood culture and antibiotics is determined by using an early-onset sepsis (EOS) calculator (Fowler et al., 2019). Depending on the score determines if the infant will require a blood culture, antibiotics, or even admission to the neonatal ICU for further observation. Currently, in the unit where I work, the calculator is used but the neonatologist or neonatal nurse practitioner must manually input the required data to compute a score. The required data needed would be incidence of early-onset sepsis, gestational age, highest maternal antepartum temperature, hours of rupture of membranes, maternal Group B Streptococci status, and type of intrapartum antibiotics, if given (Laccetta et al., 2021). If the calculator were part of the electronic health record and pulled data from the mother’s and infant’s chart it would save time and avoid any errors from manually inputting data. Having knowledge of the early-onset sepsis risk calculator score assists the provider in knowing if the neonate needs a blood culture drawn and antibiotics initiated. Studies have shown that utilizing the early-onset sepsis calculator has decreased unnecessary antibiotic exposure to uninfected infants (Fowler et al., 2019).
References
Laccetta, G., Ciantelli, M., Tuoni, C., Sigali, E., Miccoli, M., & Cuttano, A. (2021). Early-onset
sepsis risk calculator: A review of its effectiveness and comparative study with our
evidence-based local guidelines. Italian Journal of Pediactrics, 47(73), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13052-021-01028-1
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of
knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Fowler, N. T., Garcia, M., & Hankins, C. (2019). Impact of integrating a neonatal early-onset
sepsis risk calculator into the electronic health record. Pediatric Quality and Safety, 6(4),
1-6. doi: 10.1097/pq9.0000000000000235
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