College of Nursing
Faculty and Staff
Rita Snyder, PhD, RN
Professor and Associate Dean for Research
College of Nursing
University of South Carolina
| E-mail: | snyderra@mailbox.sc.edu |
| Phone: | 803-777-2868 |
| Fax: | 803-777-5576 |
| Office: |
College of Nursing |

Background
Dr. Snyder received her PhD from the University of Arizona and completed a three year National Library of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship in Health Informatics at the University of Minnesota, School of Medicine.
Research (Concept Areas)
Clinical Informatics; Evaluation of Health Information Technology (HIT)
Impact on Clinical Care Processes, Safety and Patient Outcomes; Computer Simulation
Dr. Snyder’s research program focuses on evaluation of health information technology (HIT) impact on clinical care processes, safety and patient outcomes. Current research addresses the use of computer simulation as a risk reduction tool to enhance the safety of clinical process redesign. Several studies have been conducted to develop, test and refine an Organizational Information Technology Innovation Readiness Scale (OITIRS) .
Teaching
Dr. Snyder holds the Endowed Chair in Health Informatics Quality and Safety Evaluation
and has extensive teaching experience in health care service and academic settings.
She has developed and taught numerous staff development and continuing education programs
in service settings for individuals in diverse roles and health care disciplines.
In academic settings she has taught interdisciplinary graduate courses in the areas
of health care systems, health informatics, and research. She has mentored masters
and doctoral students (PhD and DNP) and chaired numerous master’s theses and doctoral
dissertations and projects.
Dissemination
Dr. Snyder’s dissemination activities have included manuscript reviewing, publication, and professional presentations. She currently reviews manuscripts for Computers in Nursing, Journal of Nursing Measurement, Research in Nursing & Health and the Journal of Health Information Management. Her articles have been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals such as Advanced Practice Nursing Quarterly, Computers in Nursing, Critical Care Quarterly, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Journal of Nursing Administration, Journal of Nursing Education, Journal of Nursing Measurement, Journal of Nursing Staff Development, Nursing Administration Quarterly, Research in Nursing & Health, and the Western Journal of Nursing Research. Her professional presentations have addressed numerous topics related to organizational development, health care innovation and change, evaluation, and health care informatics.
Professional Service
Dr. Snyder is a member of various professional associations including the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society (STTI), and the American Nurses’ Association (ANA). She has participated in numerous national-level ad hoc research review and special emphasis panels for the Agency for Health Care Research & Quality (AHRQ), the National Library of Medicine, the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, the National Institute for Nursing Research, and the TriService Nursing Research Program. Currently, she is a member of the AHRQ Health Care Quality and Effectiveness Research (HCQER) study section.
Professional Practice
Dr. Snyder has practiced in health care organizations and university settings in clinical, administrative, researcher and faculty roles. In these roles she has lead numerous clinical, administrative, educational, and health informatics projects and initiatives. She continues to provide health informatics consultation to health care organizations and academic settings.
Research Studies (Selected)
| Grant Title: | Reducing Medication Administration Process (MAP) Redesign Risk through Computer Simulation |
| Funding Agency: | National Library of Medicine (R21) |
| Start/End Dates: | Proposal Pending Review |
| Total Dollars: | $388,517 |
| Investigators: |
Rita Snyder, PhD, RN (Lead Co-Principal Investigator, Nursing) |
| Grant Title: | Medication Administration Process (MAP) Computer Simulation Pilot Study |
| Funding Agency: | University of South Carolina (Internal) |
| Start/End Dates: | November 2010 thru June 2011 |
| Total Dollars: | $5,000 |
| Investigators: |
Nathan Huynh, PhD (Lead Principal Investigator, Engineering) |
| Grant Title: | Medication Administration Process (MAP) Analysis Pilot Study |
| Funding Agency: | University of South Carolina (Internal) |
| Start/End Dates: | May 2010 thru October 2010 |
| Total Dollars: | $5,000 |
| Investigators: |
Rita Snyder, PhD, RN (Co- Principal Investigator, Nursing) |
| Grant Title: | Impact of Community Hospital Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) System on Adverse Drug Event (ADE) Outcomes |
| Funding Agency: | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01 HS013131) |
| Start/End Dates: | September 1, 2003 thru August 31, 2007 |
| Total Dollars: | $1,296,985 |
| Investigators: |
Rita Snyder, PhD, RN (Principal Investigator) |
| Grant Title: | Organizational Assessment of Readiness to Implement the QualityFIRST ® Medical Risk Management System ™ |
| Funding Agency: | University of Utah Foundation |
| Start/End Dates: | July 2000 thru August 2001 |
| Total Dollars: | $21,500 |
| Investigator: |
Rita Snyder, PhD, RN (Principal Investigator) |
| Grant Title: | Identification of Healthcare Setting Indicators of Readiness for a Clinical Information Technology Innovation |
| Funding Agency: | University of Utah College of Nursing |
| Start/End Dates: | May 1999 thru April 2000 |
| Total Dollars: | $1,679 |
| Investigator: |
Rita Snyder, PhD, RN (Principal Investigator) |
| Grant Title: | Organization Innovation Readiness Scale Instrumentation Study |
| Funding Agency: | University of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing |
| Start/End Dates: | October 1993 thru September 1994 |
| Total Dollars: | $4,500 |
| Investigator: |
Rita Snyder, PhD, RN (Principal Investigator) |
| Grant Title: | Development and Pilot Testing of an Organizational Research Readiness Scale |
| Funding Agency: | University of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing |
| Start/End Dates: | October 1992 thru September 1993 |
| Total Dollars: | $3,760 |
| Investigator: |
Rita Snyder, PhD, RN (Principal Investigator) |
Publications (Selected)
Huynh, N., Snyder, R., Vidal, J., Tavakoli, A., & Cai, B. (2012). Application of Computer Simulation Modeling to Medication Administration Process Redesign. Journal of Healthcare Engineering. 3:4.
Fasolino, T. & Snyder, R. (2012). Linking Nurse Characteristics, Team Member Effectiveness, Environment and Medication Error Incidence, Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 27(2).
Snyder, R., Huynh, N., Cai, B., & Tavakoli, A. (2011). Medication Administration Process Evaluation: Tools and Techniques, Journal of Healthcare Engineering, 2:4, 527-538.
Snyder, R., & Fields, W. (2010). A Model for Medication Safety Event Detection. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, March, 1-8.
Fields, W., Tedeschi, C., Foltz, J., Myers, T., Heaney, K., Bosak, K., Rizos, A. & Snyder, R. (2008). Reducing preventable medication safety events by recognizing renal risk. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 22(2), 73-78.
Snyder, R., Abarca, J., Meza, J., Rothschild, J., Rizos, A. & Bates, D.W. (2007). Reliability evaluation of the adapted National Coordinating Council Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) Index. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 16, 1006-1013.
Snyder, R., & Fields, W. (2006). Measuring hospital readiness for information technology (IT) Innovation: A multisite study of the Organizational Information Technology Innovation Readiness Scale. Journal of Nursing Measurement 14(1), 45-55.
Snyder, R., Weston, M., Fields, W., et al. (2006). Computerized provider order entry system field research: The impact of contextual factors on study implementation. International Journal of Medical Informatics 75, 730-740.
Snyder, R. (2001). Indicators of organizational readiness for clinical information technology/systems innovation: A Delphi study. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 63, 179-204.
Snyder, R., Corcoran-Perry, S., & Narayan, S. (2001). Developing clinical practice environments supportive of the knowledge work of nurses. Computers in Nursing, 19(1), 17-23.
Staggers, N., Thompson C.B., & Snyder-Halpern, R. (2001). History and trends in clinical information systems in the United States. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 33(1), 75-81.
Snyder, R., & Chervany, N.L. (2000). A clinical information system strategic planning model for integrated health care delivery networks. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 30(12), 583-591.
Snyder, R., & Wagner, M.C. (2000). Evaluating return-on-investment (ROI) for a hospital clinical information system: Case study. Computers in Nursing, 18(5), 213-219.
Snyder, R., & Hoyman, K. (2000). Clinical information system implementation challenges across two merged hospitals: Case study. Computers in Nursing, 18(4), 157-161.
Snyder, R., & Wagner, M.C. (2000). Planning for implementation of a vendor-based clinical information system: Case study. Computers in Nursing, 18(1), 9-12.
Snyder, R. (2000). Informatics nurse specialist: A role for the new century in health care. Aspen’s Advisor for Nurse Executives, 15(4), 1,3-5.
Snyder, R. (1999). A model-based context assessment approach for the informatics nurse specialist consultant. Computers in Nursing, 17(5), 221-228.
Thompson, C.B., Snyder-Halpern, R., & Staggers, N. (1999). Clinical informatics case studies: Analysis, processes, and techniques. Computers in Nursing, 17(5), 203-206.
Snyder, R. (1999). Assessing health care setting readiness for point-of-care computerized clinical decision support system innovations. Outcomes Management for Nursing Practice, 3(3), 118-127.
Snyder, R. (1998). Measuring organizational readiness for nursing research programs. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 20(2), 223-237.
Snyder, R. (1997). Health services organization computer innovations: Ready or not? Computers in Nursing, 15(3), 147-152.
Snyder, R. (1996). Health care system innovation: A model for practice. Advanced Practice Nursing Quarterly, 1(4), 12-19.
Refereed Conference Proceedings (Selected)
Snyder, R., & Bosak, K. (2008, October). An evaluation of nursing medication safety in community hospitals [Abstract]. National State of the Science Congress in Nursing Research 2008, Washington, DC.
Fields, W. & Snyder, R. (2008, April). Impact of a computerized medication safety system interface on medication errors [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 2008 International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care, Paris, France.
Snyder, R. & Fields, W. (2007, November). Community hospital physician adoption of a CPOE system: Perceptions of readiness, usefulness, and satisfaction [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 2007 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Fall Symposium, Chicago, IL.
Fields, W. & Snyder, R. (2007, November). Community hospital CPOE system implementation: The lived experience of multi-disciplinary healthcare team members [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 2007 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Fall Symposium, Chicago, IL.
Snyder, R. & Fields, W. (2005, October). Assessing hospital readiness for computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system innovation [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 2005 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Fall Symposium, Washington, DC.
Rizos, A., Snyder, R., Rothschild, J., Tedeschi, C. & Fields, W. (2005, October). Multi-method approach for medication safety event detection in community hospitals [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 2005 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Fall Symposium, Washington, DC.
Tedeschi, C., Myers, E., Heaney, K., Foltz, J., Snyder, R., et al. (2005, May). Improving nursing medication practice by recognizing renal risk [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 2005 San Diego Nursing Research Conference, San Diego, California.
Snyder, R., Tedeschi, C., & Fields, W. (2004, July). Medication safety event detection: Methodologies to improve nursing medication practice outcomes [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 2004 Sigma Theta Tau 15 th International Nursing Research Congress, Dublin, Ireland.
Snyder, R., Blegan, M., Doyle, M., Hull, B., Laack, D., Pepper, G., & Rose, S. (2003, April). Safe medication practice: Informatics project techniques and solutions [Symposium Abstracts]. In Proceedings of the 36 th Annual Communicating Nursing Research Conference “Responding to Societal Imperatives Through Discovery and Innovation”, Scottsdale, AZ.
Snyder, R. (2002, November). Development and pilot testing of an Organizational Information Technology/Systems Innovation Readiness Scale (OITIRS) [Paper]. In Proceedings of the 2002 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Fall Symposium, San Antonio, TX.
Snyder, R., Thompson, C.B., & Schaffer, J. (2000, November). Comparison of mailed vs. Internet applications of the Delphi Technique in clinical informatics research. In Proceedings of the 2000 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Fall Symposium, Los Angeles, CA.
Snyder, R. (1998, March). Application of a development process model to the design of real time computerized decision support systems (CDSSs) for nurses [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 22 nd Annual Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS) Conference. Columbus, OH.
Snyder, R. (1994, July). Development and pilot testing of an organization innovation readiness scale [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the Sigma Theta Tau International 7 th International Nursing Research Congress. Sydney, Australia.
Snyder, R. (1994, April). Development and pilot testing of an organization innovation readiness scale [Abstract]. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual WIN Communicating Nursing Research Conference. Phoenix, AZ.