Submitted by Carolyn Silzle, MS, MBA, RD
If you are reading this blog, I am
guessing that you are interested in informatics and/or that part of your job
includes informatics. In either case, you may have questions regarding why the
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is
involved, how you can learn more, or how you can get involved.
The Academy is placing emphasis on
nutrition informatics for several reasons. Diet orders, the nutrition care
process, and nutrition terminology, including diagnosis, are not well defined
in current electronic health records (EHR). As standards for the EHR are
written at the federal level as part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)
Act, the Academy is pushing for the inclusion of nutrition and diet
orders.
Having these tools will promote
standard data, which will prove useful in pulling outcomes data. Positive
outcomes data will show the benefits and value of the registered dietitian. Documented
value will hopefully bring better salaries.
Another initiative of the Academy is promoting
education in informatics for its members. In the past, the Academy partnered
with the American Medical Informatics Association with its 10´10 class. Now, the Academy is partnering with Healthcare Information and
Management Systems (HIMSS) to provide another resource.
Student members can obtain a full membership for $30
at (http://www.himss.org/asp/topics_nutritioninformatics.asp?faid=700&tid=16).
Academy members can purchase an online HIMSS
membership for $30 at (http://www.himss.org/asp/online_membership_home.asp).
Coming up, the Academy has partnered with HIMSS to
offer some free webinars:
· January 10, 2013: Nutrition Informatics 101
· February 14, 2013: Informatics
Competencies Delphi Study
· April 11, 2013: Meaningful
Use in Action—Exploring the Possibilities of Nutrition Informatics
Sign up now!