The number of chief nursing informatics officers has increased in health systems over the past five years, with more designated CNIO-positions than ever before. The bump comes at a time when the need to bridge the gap between clinical and informatics increasing, according to a recent report commissioned by the workforce search firm Witt/Kieffer.
The research team surveyed 100 respondents from medical centers, independent hospitals and hospitals part of a larger health system to examine the evolving role of the CNIO and whether organizations are recruiting for the position to support the informatics landscape. These results were compared to a similar survey conducted in 2011.
Overall, there are 10 percent more CNIOs in place in organizations than compared to 2011, according to Chris Wierz, principal, Witt/Kieffer Information Technology Practice. While some organizations have created the position of CNIO, others have modified roles to incorporate the CNIO title.
"CNIOs now have a 'seat at the table," Wierz told Healthcare IT News. "From a CNIO perspective, it's so much about collaboration and consensus building; getting those groups of people together when it comes to IT. It's always been about trying to bring disparate groups together to understand the workflow around the electronic medical records and today's IT."
"Communication is a very large role, as well," she added, "acting as a translator between IT and my clinical staff. The ability to articulate your knowledge of IT and clinical is critical in this role."
Depending on the organization, the CNIO is responsible for EMR implementation, clinical IT, optimization of nursing strategy as it relates to IT, and creating a picture of day-to-day operation on clinical IT matters, Wierz said.
Despite the need to bridge these departments, Wierz said there are still many barriers to overcome before the role becomes more commonplace. "One of the reasons this role isn’t gaining enough traction is that there's an IT resistance to it."
Some organizations are lacking the funding for establishing the CNIO position, while other hospitals indicated their organization wasn't big enough to require one, according to the survey.
"Some people will say the reason why they're not implementing a CNIO is because then are you going to need even more "chief" roles," she added. "It's going to be interesting to see whether the CNIO turns into a chief clinical role to help with daily operations."
Twitter: @JessieFDavis
Email the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com
