Chicago–Jan. 12, 2010—Two nurses have won recognition as emerging leaders in the field of nursing informatics, selected by the Alliance for Nursing Informatics (ANI) to participate in a jointly supported Nursing Informatics Emerging Leaders Program. The selections were based on a number of criteria, including a mid-level position in informatics in a health care setting, a current license to practice as a registered nurse, and the ability to make a difference as a leader in the field of informatics. This inaugural program aims to develop leaders capable of assuming national leadership positions in an informatics-related organization. The two emerging leaders selected are: Ellen Makar, RN-BC, MSN, of Yale–New Haven Health System, Conn.; and Sandra Ng, RN-BC, MSN, UCSF Medical Center, part of the University of California, San Francisco.
ANI and its Nursing Informatics Emerging Leaders Program are jointly supported by the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). To fulfill their commitment to the program, each Emerging Leader is expected to 1) complete a nursing informatics leadership project, 2) attend meetings of the ANI governing directors, 3) participate in the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition (March 1-4, 2010), including the Nursing Informatics Symposium, and 4) participate in the AMIA Annual Symposium (Nov. 13-17, 2010).
“This mentorship opportunity for Ellen,” said Charles Torre, Jr., Corporate Director of Decision Support at Yale–New Haven Health, “will infuse our institutional thinking toward a data management and implementation capacity that can become a national model.”
Ellen Makar currently serves as a clinical coordinator in the decision support department at Yale–New Haven Health, where she retrieves and analyzes administrative health data for projects that require operational, clinical, and financial decision-making. She is also a doctoral student at Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes Jewish College in St Louis, Mo. Ellen will be paired with two mentors: Bonnie Westra, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing; and Carol Petersen, Manager, Perioperative Informatics, at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses.
Sandra Ng is currently responsible for operating trials of ground-breaking hardware and applications in a clinical setting, redesigning workflow processes, and evaluating impact of these innovations on various clinician workflows during routine patient care. During her involvement in the two-year leadership program, Ms. Ng will be mentored by HIMSS Vice President of Informatics Joyce Sensmeier and Curtis Dikes, National Director, Clinical Informatics Technology Integration at Kaiser Permanente.
“Clinical workflow design and processes are the foundation of quality patient care with nurses focused on providing both effective and efficient care to their patients,” said Ms. Sensmeier. “Through this mentoring program, nurses are introduced to the benefits of care collaboration and clinical informatics in nursing so that they can step in as the future leaders of the nursing profession.”
