Your influence can extend beyond the RCN – even beyond nursing!

Published: 12 May 2010

It’s been nearly a year since he became RCN eHealth Adviser and the time has flown, says Nick Hardiker.  During this period the RCN eHealth Programme has achieved a great deal and the Information in Nursing Forum has played an important role.

The RCN Strategic Plan for 2008-2013 has a priority to "become an acknowledged leader in eHealth" so congratulations to members of the forum, past and present, who helped  place eHealth in this central position. 

eHealth now permeates many areas of RCN work: quality and standards initiatives in the Learning and Development Institute increasingly rely on aspects of eHealth while activists across the UK are realising the implications for members of not fully embracing and exploiting the eHealth agenda.

Outside the RCN, the eHealth Programme and the Information in Nursing Forum continue to make their mark through active participation in groups such as Scotland’s NMAHP eHealth leads group, the Northern Ireland Nurses Informatics group and England’s NHS Connecting for Health National Advisory Group.  Tina Donnelly, Director of the RCN in Wales sits on the Board of Informing Healthcare.

So the influence of the eHealth Programme and the Information in Nursing Forum goes beyond the RCN and it goes beyond nursing.

Ongoing work

These past several months, with support from Intel, we have been able to organise and contribute to a number of events, review and revise a number of publications, develop new web content and commission a number of innovative digital stories. This ongoing work has revitalised the programme and mobilised further interest in eHealth.

But of course there is still a long way to go. There are many examples of nursing staff (you know who you are!) taking the initiative and using eHealth to improve nursing practice and the experience of patients.

However, I sense a growing frustration around the general lack of eHealth functionality that can support nursing practice. There is a need for people who can help to deliver and exploit this functionality - the RCN and the Information in Nursing Forum are more than ready for the challenges that lie ahead.