Well I think that we can safely say that electronic health records are here and ever expanding. That patients being able to access their health records online, order medications, and email doctors about symptoms or side effects of medications are all soon to be implemented.

Then there comes informatics…  What does informatics hold for the future? I believe that health care organizations will pay for education for patients on computer technology. How to look up information about their diseases, to email them about problems the patients might be experiencing, and how to work social networking into their schedule.

Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are all just a small part of the social network and a way that connects people instantly and forms new relationships as well as reestablishing old ones. Businesses, doctor offices, and health care organizations are all forming pages to advertise their business and get people to buy or look at their products. You ask how this has anything to do with informatics and the health care organizations?  Well with hospitals and insurance companies joining in the Facebook messaging, and tweeting tweets this allows patients to become more involved in their care and what information they are able to access.

This is just a small part of what will happen with social networking and new technology.

Where will schools start in introducing social networking and informatics into their school curriculum?  My school has already started introducing the students to social networking such as twitter. Also in having us research about the electronic health records and the in’s and out’s of how they work. Such as what is the cost? who has access? what backup plans are there? education for all who use it?

By introducing us students to these small things I believe that the school is producing nurses with a well rounded education. Now no matter where we might end up in the health care world we know what to expect and how to help our co-workers who might not of been so fortunate.

Thank  you St. John’s College of Nursing and my health care informatics teacher for opening our eyes and making sure that we get a taste of where our health care world is heading.

So here it goes………

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Comes from the Greek words  A- without

Myo- muscle

Trophic- nourishment

“No muscle nourishment”

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body (ALS Association, 2007). Ability to control your muscle movement is then lost.

Based on United States population studies, a little over 56,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with ALS each year (ALS Association, 2007). According to the ALS C.A.R.E. Database 60 percent of the people with ALS in the Database are men and 93 percent of patients in the Database are Caucasian (ALS Association, 2007). ALS is diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 70 in men and women, and extremely rare in children.

Why ALS occurs is not completely understood, and there is no known cure available. Only one FDA approved drug called, Riluzole, modestly slows the progression of ALS. Although there are several other drugs in clinical trials that hold promise to being able to slow the progression of ALS.

There are several symptoms that occur with ALS and they can be overlooked at the beginning, sometimes just thought of as “aging”. It is very important to see your doctor and let him know all the symptoms that you might be having. Symptoms can range from muscle weakness in all body parts, to twitching and impairment of the use of arms and legs. Also “thick” speech can occur. In advanced stages of ALS shortness of breath, difficulty speaking and swallowing may occur.

Muscle weakness is the hallmark initial sign in ALS, occurring in approximately 60 percent of patients (ALS Association, 2007).

ALS is very true to my heart, and for many reasons. The main reason though is because ALS runs in my family. My great uncle was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 46, the disease was in its final stages when I was born, so I do not remember him or the trials that he went through. The stories that my grandmother tells on my Uncle Ronnie though are heart-wrenching and the disease truly steals every movement from you. In the end Uncle Ronnie could not move, talk, or eat, his breathing was becoming very difficult because his accessory muscles did not have the strength to function.

I am very fascinated with this disease, not only because it is in my family but because we don’t have a cure for it. How is it that a disease can be this strange in origin and the brilliant scientists not find a cure. Wow what a disease!

I am also hoping to get the word out about ALS and what the symptoms are and things that people need to be watching for to catch this deadly disease in the first stages. Also in getting the word out more people may be moved to help donate money to research to help in finding a cure, or simply somebody may have been affected by ALS and not know where to turn to get help or information.

In the websites below that I have provided, you will find that I looked for websites that were health based with domains such as .org and .gov. These websites have outstanding credentials, which is important in knowing that doctors and nurses helped in putting them together instead of the regular Joe. I also made sure that the sites provided a brief overview of what the disease was, some common symptoms, and resources that were available for use.

For further information and statistics on ALS please look up the following websites below:

ALS Association: Fighting Lou Gehrig’s Disease

What is ALS?

http://www.alsa.org/

Main website for ALS- includes information about ALS such as a description, symptoms, who gets ALS, and facts that you should know. Also has links to other resources that may be in your community, and what is available to you or your loved one.

KidsHealth: from the health experts of Nemours

Conditions of ALS

http://kidshealth.org/kid/grownup/conditions/als.html

This website is for grownups, teens, and/or kids. It talks about ALS and what it is along with the symptoms associated with ALS.

The Official Web Site of Lou Gehrig

About Lou Gehrig

www.lougehrig.com/about/als.htm

Lou Gehrig was a professional baseball player, who developed ALS during the height of his career. This site talks about Lou Gehrig and the trials and triumphs that he had while fighting the disease and playing profession baseball. ALS is the official name for the disease although it is known by many as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. This website is for the sportsman who may be diagnosed with ALS or have a loved witht he disease

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

National Institutes of Health

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Fact Sheet

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis.htm

Provides research literature about the trials of ALS and different medications being tried in the clinical studies. It provides links to organizations in communities around the world. This website would be useful for somebody who is thinking of being in a clinical study.

Medline Plus: Trusted Health Information for You

A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health

Amotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000688.htm

Medline Plus is a site that tells about ALS and its symptoms, causes, exams and tests, different treatments, support groups available, prognosis, possible complications, when to contact a medical professional, and prevention. All these different categories are useful in the newly diagnosed patient or for the loved one of a diagnosed patient.

WebMD: Better information. Better health.

Brain and Nervous System Health Center

What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

http://www.webmd.com/brain/tc/amyotrophic-lateral-sclerosis-als-topic-overview

This WebMD website gives an indepth look at what ALS is and the specific symptoms, exams and tests, and treatments. Gives a description of what home treatments are available versus hospital based treatments. Where one might go and look for other places to get help in treatments and in coping with the disease.

As I sit here and think about what I want to write about let me tell you all first that this is the FIRST blog that I have ever wrote. I didn’t know anything about getting one started or that I could even do this myself. But I did and I can!!!

So here it goes……

As I have done the different assignments for my health care informatics class, I have learned a lot of things this week. First, that I WOULD HAVE TO set up a Twitter account and maintain it. I must admit that that was kind of depressing to me, I do not care to have a Twitter account, or use anything besides Facebook. Although I must admit that now that I have made my account and am getting accustomed to the way Twitter is set up, I am enjoying some of the articles that other people are posting. Interesting little tidbits about different nursing fields and events that happen. Twitter up and running so check me out at @knwanurse. I definitely can not promise that I will ever post anything interesting, but who knows it might be some information that you did not know before. The second thing I have learned it how to set up a blog and to keep it up and blog things. I always had this misconception that blogs were kept by people in business suits trying to promote their business. Of course the movie Julie and Julia proved me wrong, and I have decided that Julie really got into blogging, probably much more than you will see out of me. Now I know that people like me can set up a blog and post just about anything they want. I am still kind of dumbfounded about the idea that I am actually blogging.  Finally, I have learned that their are many many many ways to learn new things and many ways to find out all sorts of information. Holy cow, I never knew there was so much information about anything you could ever want to know about out here on this thing they call the World Wide Web. Having a twitter account proves that, everybody is posting new ideas and evidence based information on this or that. How do people have time to keep up with all this information? I barely have time to keep up with my Facebook account. Well I definitely have learned some things in this first week, wonder what I will learn in the next 4 weeks.  That is scary to think about, but I am definitely up to the challenge because it will help me in my career as a nurse and to help my patients in my care for them.

Health Care Informatics? What is it really?

Our Nursing Informatics book says that it is “the combination of health care science, information science, and computer science” (McGongile, D. & Mastrain, K. 2009). Also Georgia State defines it as, “Health Informatics combines knowledge from medical areas, healthcare administration, and information technology. Experts in Health Informatics can, in other words, help the industry effectively adopt information technology to innovate and improve its medical services and the way they are administrated” (Georgia State University, 2009). By knowing how to find, interpret, and comprehend the information in nursing/science is important because it enables you to perform for your patients to the best of your abilities.  All of these new systems to help us in caring for our patients are interesting and some are very rewarding in raising the bar of health care. Like the new electronic health record (EHR) that the hospital where I work has incorporated for our hospital to use. Different people enter the information they acquire so that we all can see how the patient is doing. For example, a nurse assistant takes a patients vitals and enters them into the system. In turn, I can see them as well as the physician, physical therapist, and any other health care team member taking care of the patient. This helps us in making sure that the patient is getting better in their particular diagnosis or if they are getting worse and what we need to do to help turn them around for a full recovery. The health care system is forever evolving and it is moving in the direction of including technology with it. Where will it be in twenty years? thirty? I hope that I am still alive to see what is in store for the health care world.

Georgia State University. (2009). Health Informatics. http://www2.cis.gsu.edu/cis/HealthInfo/

McGongile, D. & Mastrain, K. (2009). Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge. Jones and Bartlett; Sudbury, MA.