Nursing informatics problem and proposal essay
Draw on your own career to identify a current information technology problem or improvement opportunity, build the case with anecdotal and evidentiary information, propose a solution, and explain how the change benefits nursing and patient outcomes, written as the advanced-practice informatics nurse leading the project.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 13, 2026
Anecdote and evidence, deliberately paired
Two instructions define this paper. The first is to draw on your own career, which means the problem must be one you have seen rather than one you have read about; the second is to approach the assignment as though you are the advanced-practice informatics nurse responsible for convincing others, which sets the register. Together they explain the unusual phrase in the middle of the prompt, where the scope of the problem must be built from both anecdotal and evidentiary information. That pairing is deliberate and it is not sloppiness about rigour. Anecdote establishes that the problem is real on a particular unit and gives a reader something to picture; evidence establishes that it is not unique to you and that the cost is measurable. A paper with only the first reads as a complaint, and a paper with only the second reads as a literature review with no reason to exist.
Choose a problem narrow enough to fix. The topics the prompt offers are instructive because they are all small: redundancy in documentation, ease of navigation in the chosen operating system, legal ramifications of systems, ethical considerations, and the use of data to improve outcomes. Redundant documentation is a good example because it is measurable in minutes per shift, attributable to a specific screen or workflow, and fixable without procuring a new system. Then keep the proposal proportionate: the prompt asks for a solution or a series of steps, and steps that name who does what by when are more persuasive than a recommendation to implement a new platform. The closing requirement, explaining how the changes benefit nursing and improve patient outcomes, needs an actual chain rather than an assertion, so trace it from the change to the time saved to what that time is used for to the outcome that shifts.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Identify an information technology problem from direct practice experience.
- 02Combine anecdotal and evidentiary support to establish a problem's scope.
- 03Scope a solution to what an informatics nurse could actually lead.
- 04Trace a causal chain from a system change to a patient outcome.
- 05Write persuasively in a defined professional role.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01A current information technology problem or improvement opportunity from your own career.
- 02An explanation of the scope of the problem using anecdotal and evidentiary information.
- 03A proposed solution or series of steps to improve the situation.
- 04An explanation of how the changes benefit nursing and improve patient outcomes.
- 05A well-organised paper using headings, with correct grammar and mechanics.
Problem, scope, solution, benefit
The problem
One specific information technology problem, named and located in practice.
Scope, from the ward
The anecdotal half: what it looks like on a shift, and who it affects.
Scope, from the evidence
Published data showing the problem is general and quantifiable.
The proposed steps
A sequence of actions with owners, sized to what can actually be led.
Benefit to nursing and patients
The chain from change to time or accuracy to outcome, with evidence at each link.
Evidence for the fix, not for the field
Recommended databases
- PubMed
- CINAHL
- HealthIT.gov
- AHRQ
- Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
Search sequence
- 1.Write down the problem as you have experienced it before searching anything.
- 2.Search for studies measuring the same problem, ideally in minutes, errors or events.
- 3.Read national health IT guidance for the standards or interoperability angle if relevant.
- 4.Find at least one published intervention resembling your proposal and read its results.
- 5.Look for outcome evidence connecting the intervening variable to a patient measure.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
What is HIE? - ONC - Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT · 2024
Exchange and interoperability context, for problems that cross system boundaries.
- 02
ONC - Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT
Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT · 2024
Certification and policy background for any proposal touching the electronic record itself.
- 03
Continuous Quality Improvement
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
The improvement cycle that turns a proposal into steps with measurement built in.
- 04
TeamSTEPPS 3.0
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality · 2024
Communication and handoff structures, if the documentation problem is one of transfer rather than entry.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Choosing a problem from the literature rather than from your own practice.
- Building scope from evidence alone, so the problem never feels real.
- Building scope from anecdote alone, so it reads as a personal grievance.
- Proposing a system replacement when the problem is a workflow.
- Asserting benefit to patient outcomes with no intervening steps.
- Writing in a student register when the prompt sets a professional role.
Submission checklist
- The problem comes from the writer's own career and is stated concretely.
- Both anecdotal and evidentiary support appear in the scope section.
- The proposal is a series of steps with owners.
- The benefit section traces a chain rather than asserting an outcome.
- Headings guide the reader throughout.
- The paper is written in the informatics nurse's voice.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.