Information Overload: Framework, Tips, and Tools to Manage in Complex Healthcare Environments

Information Overload has been recognized by the American Journal of Nursing as one of the best nursing and health care publications of 2015 and it earned first place in the 2015 AJN Book of the Year Award category of information technology/social media. As a nurse, you are constantly bombarded with questions and requests. Does this sound familiar - the phone that rings every five minutes, the need to update patient charts, administer meds, check vitals and react to alarms that seem to never stop going off? The level of information you have to process is staggering, and can ultimately have an effect on patient care. What can you do? Information Overload provides a framework to better understand information overload and the various factors and contexts that influence its effect on care providers, patients and families. It includes several case studies designed to help you apply the framework, as well as tips and tools to reference as you embrace the opportunity to change how you handle overload. This book brings you to a better understanding of the numerous factors that influence nurses’ interpretation of the information and cues they deal with every day in practice. Relevant to all levels of nurses practicing in health care organizations and academic institutions, it is structured so that you can weave in and out of chapters relevant to your particular area of interest. After reading this important book, you will be able to ease the pressure of information overload and keep the focus on your patients.