Disruptive Innovation: Point of Care

Authors’ note: It is important for the reader to understand that these essential elements of a PCMH were defined exclusively by physician organizations. The authors have used the term Medical Home to be more inclusive of all health practitioners. This fourth edition of Nursing Informatics is replete with examples of how information technology (IT) can help nurses work safer and provide “better” care. One section in this volume contains a detailed description of the TIGER initiative that lays out a set of core informatics competencies for nurses and a roadmap of how to infuse nursing with the capacity to use IT to its fullest extent. The vision of the TIGER initiative is to: “enable nurses to use informatics tools, principles, theories and practices… making information technology the stethoscope for the twenty-first century.” This TIGER initiative even recommends an “IT driver’s license” to certify that a nurse knows how to drive the IT systems he or she will use. No one would get a driver’s license, however, if driving a car was of little use in everyday life. In order for IT to become an integral part of the practice of nursing, it must be fundamentally useful.