Challenges

As I'm taking this first class in Medical Informatics, I'm impressed with the number of professional journals dedicated to all aspects of Nursing. Or perhaps I should say, impressed with the lack of journals dedicated to Respiratory Care. I did contact the AARC before I began my program, to see if they had anything going in the area of Health Informatics. At this time, they have nothing.

I found that surprising. We deal with computerized medical devices, that interface with humans, and before long will be interfaced with hospital computer networks, once the hospitals get their infrastructure up to speed. It seems that RTs should be on the cutting edge, here. And if we don't get there, someone else will step in to take up the role.

Nursing Informatics is a well developed field. They've been spending the last 20 years or so, researching and writing, and they have the incomes to show for that work. I just read an article in the May/June 2007 issue of Computer Informatics Nursing, entitled "Survey Demonstrates Importance of Nurse Informaticist Role in Health Information Technology Design and Implementation", that shows the steady increase in roles and salaries of Nurse Informaticists.

We should have such a thing. Our role would be as different as Nursing is from Respiratory, but we should be entering the discussion of how to apply the art of Informatics to the science of Respiratory Care.

If we take ourselves seriously as a profession, and as a science, then respiratory therapists need to step up to this plate, and get some serious writing done, whether in Informatics or equipment or inhaled agents. We should be giving our perspective on equipment and protocols. All that griping that goes on in the report room could actually be turned into scientific information shared with other disciplines. Our experience with what it's actually like to put nasal CPAP on a preemie could be turned into the development of protocols, or feedback to the vendors regarding ways to improve the interface. How about a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of running through every piece of equipment before finally intubating the patient you were sure was gonna get tubed anyway?

We can contribute, very valuable experience and knowledge. And we aren't currently doing that.