Information focus - RCN support

Products and services

Here is an alphabetical listing of RCN products and services relating to this clinical governance theme. We make clear in the description for each entry whether the product or service is available exclusively to RCN members.

eHealth

eHealth was one of the seven professional priorities identified by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) for its 2008-2009 work programme. These web pages have been developed to provide the nursing community with information and guidance about eHealth. The pages include three core areas: electronic patient records; education and training and telehealth and telecare. Visit the eHealth pages.

RCN eHealth Survey

This survey was commissioned by the RCN to investigate the views of UK nurses about NHS IT developments and 2,635 nurses responded. The objectives were to investigate nurses' views about NHS IT developments, especially the electronic patient record system (EPR) and to consider how those views had changed over the past three and a half years. The RCN believes that nurses should fully engage in the EPR in order for the NHS to meet its current and future healthcare challenges and continue to deliver improved patient care, access and quality. See the RCN eHealth Survey 2007.

Information in Nursing (IN) Forum community

The Information in Nursing Forum is the members' forum for all nurses who are working or interested in the use (collecting, recording, storing retrieving and sharing) of clinical data and information for the advancement of patient care and nursing.

The group is also concerned with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT/e-Health) for the promotion of health, improvement of care and the development of the unique body of nursing knowledge.

The forum is set to act as a focal point at the RCN to support nurses and ensure that informatics/e-Health is seen as a core element of nursing care which impacts on every aspect of the care delivery process. Most importantly, the forum is providing a bedrock for expert advice in supporting the development of innovative RCN policy to support the future needs of nurses in the UK and beyond. Visit the Information in Nursing (IN) Forum community.

Learning Zone

Learning Zone - available to RCN members only.

Do IT now!

This learning area is about the practical use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It also looks at how to use and make the most of the most common forms of general computer - the PC and the Mac.

Dynamic documentation

This RCN learning area focuses on perhaps the most crucial element in multiteam, multidisciplinary healthcare. High quality, relevant and appropriate documentation is central to the art and science of nursing and is fundamental in recording the changes that happen during a patient's health and social care journey.

This first introductory learning opportunity introduces the main themes of the learning area and shows just how important documentation is to patient care. The three following learning opportunities within the area will help answer the questions of:

• why it should be done (documentation's role)
• how to use it (managing information) 
• what makes for effective documentation (effective documenting).

Inside this learning area nurses can find out how to recognise good - and bad - documentation for themselves and their patients. They will come to recognise areas of good practice, and start to overcome their anxieties around documentation. This area will also help them to develop skills in how to document care effectively.

Nurses will hopefully begin to understand when it is time to get support from the RCN to change things that aren't quite right about the documentation they have. There will, finally, be the occasional reminder of basic nursing documentation principles, in case they are working with students or new starters to the health and social care setting.

Information disclosure

This learning area aims to provide guidance on confidentiality, consent and issues around sharing and disclosing information. The learning area consists of an introduction and four learning opportunities which cover; the principles and practice of confidentiality, confidentiality and consent in context, sharing information with patients, families and carers and disclosing information in and out of healthcare settings.

Library and information service information needs survey

The library and information service (LIS) at the RCN carried out a survey on the information needs of nursing staff.  RCN LIS (now part of information and knowledge management) is using the data from the survey in the development of services tailored to the needs of members, and is using its position as the only specialist nursing information service in touch with nursing information needs to play an influencing role to improve nurses' access to information. See the Library and Information Services Information Needs Survey (2005) (PDF 136KB).

The information needs of nurses - Executive summary of an RCN survey

Executive summary related to the above publication, a UK wide survey to find out what information nurses, health visitors, midwives and healthcare assistants need to support their practice and lifelong learning. See the The information needs of nurses - Executive summary of an RCN survey (PDF 161.2KB).

Policy unit: consultations

This section of the RCN website lists policy consultation documents that are currently active and enables members to participate in the RCN's response to those consultations. Visit the Policy unit: consultations. 

Policy unit: policy briefings

In this section of the RCN website you can search for policy briefings. The briefings can be searched using keywords or phrases, or you can browse through them by year. Visit the Policy unit: policy briefings.