Written by Mark H. Johnson, MHA, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, Vice President, Sales and Marketing - iatricSystems
In late April, along with my Iatric Systems nurse colleague Debra Graham, I had the honor of attending and presenting at the 2015 Annual Conference of the American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) in Philadelphia.
More than 500 nursing informaticists gathered at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel for a weekend devoted to a Declaration of Nursing Informatics with several keynotes, multiple tracks of educational sessions, and a fantastic display of educational posters. The ANIA Conference has become my favorite yearly event for many reasons. As an ANCC board-certified Informatics Nurse, I am with my tribe when I attend the ANIA Conference. I am afforded the opportunity to network with nursing analysts, CNOs and CNIOs, vendors, and academic scholars. I am energized listening to my peers talk both about their project successes and challenges, and how the practice of Nursing Informatics with a combination of Nursing Science, Computer Science, and Information Science is making the difference in the care of our patients and communities.
Speaking of communities, the main keynote speaker, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, a health economist based in Philadelphia, explored how the merging of consumer electronics and patient-generated health data (PGHD) is finally allowing a platform to make population health a reality. Jane emphasized tha the merger will not happen without the unique critical thinking and clinical skills of the Nursing Informatics community. Nursing informaticists will be the front line troops and a key part of the rear command of any successful population health strategy. I encourage you to learn more from Jane by following her on Twitter at @healthythinker.
On Saturday, I had the opportunity to continue part of the discussion that Jane started in Friday morning's keynote by presenting an educational session about how PGHD is being used to affect Triple Aim initiatives and how PGHD will be collected, shared, and incorporated in nursing care plans and fee-for-value transition strategies. Iatric Systems also presented an educational poster on the Benefits of Medical Device Integration at the ANIA15 Conference. You can find a copy of my PGHD slide deck here and view a pdf of our poster here:
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My favorite benefit of my ANIA membership is the educational benefits. ANIA members get access to high-quality monthly educational opportunities that enable you to earn educational credits, so you can earn or maintain certifications and you gain access to the active ANIA listserv. For more information on how you can join, check out https://www.ania.org/membership. There are also several active local state chapters for ANIA with more local chapters forming soon. You simply cannot find a better value for $60 than the annual ANIA membership. I strongly encourage you to consider joining ANIA and follow along via Twitter at @ANIAinformatics. I look forward to seeing you in San Francisco at the 2016 ANIA Conference or online at one of the ANIA monthly events soon!
