Sample Answer for NURS 6501 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING Included After Question
NURS 6501 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
In the modern era, there are few professions that do not to some extent rely on data. Stockbrokers rely on market data to advise clients on financial matters. Meteorologists rely on weather data to forecast weather conditions, while realtors rely on data to advise on the purchase and sale of property. In these and other cases, data not only helps solve problems, but adds to the practitioner’s and the discipline’s body of knowledge.
Of course, the nursing profession also relies heavily on data. The field of nursing informatics aims to make sure nurses have access to the appropriate date to solve healthcare problems, make decisions in the interest of patients, and add to knowledge.
In this Discussion, you will consider a scenario that would benefit from access to data and how such access could facilitate both problem-solving and knowledge formation.
RESOURCES
NURS 6501 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
To Prepare:
Reflect on the concepts of informatics and knowledge work as presented in the Resources.
Consider a hypothetical scenario based on your own healthcare practice or organization that would require or benefit from the access/collection and application of data. Your scenario may involve a patient, staff, or management problem or gap.
BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 1
Post a description of the focus of your scenario. Describe the data that could be used and how the data might be collected and accessed. What knowledge might be derived from that data? How would a nurse leader use clinical reasoning and judgment in the formation of knowledge from this experience?
BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 1
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, asking questions to help clarify the scenario and application of data, or offering additional/alternative ideas for the application of nursing informatics principles.
*Note: Throughout this program, your fellow students are referred to as colleagues.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NURS 6501 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
Title: NURS 6501 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
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Nov 17, 2022Nov 17, 2022 at 11:21am
TIPS for Success in Discussion Posts!
Every semester I have students who do not meet the posting requirements. It is important to read the grading rubric so that you understand the expectations.
The main post is always due by midnight on Wednesdays.
Peer posts are due no later than Saturday at midnight.
There must be three (3) total posts in one week.
The main post must include a minimum of three (3) scholarly sources as an in-text citation and as references. Each reference must have a matching in text citation and every citation a matching reference. They both should match.
Peer posts must include a minimum of two (2) scholarly sources as an in-text citation and as references. Each reference must have a matching in text citation and every citation a matching reference. They both should match.
APA 7th edition formatting guide has been used for a year now. The expectation is that you use this appropriately. I will give feedback but please read each discussion week to ensure you are improving.
Write in a substantive way. Participation is important in online courses, and I am assessing what you are learning. Just a few sentences are not adequate and result in lower scores.
I am looking forward to working with each of you this semester. Dr. Howe
Collapse SubdiscussionShanea Trevino
Nov 29, 2022Nov 29, 2022 at 10:43am
Telephone triage
The phone rings on a busy Saturday afternoon and the pleasant voice of a registered nurse answers professionally, greeting the caller seeking advice and care. This could be a day for a typical for an ambulatory telephone triage nurse. The concept of telephone triage and consultation can be one of a registered nurse using evidence-based algorithms from electronic databases. The nurses, like most nurses, working in a progressive health care industry are using technology to counsel patients. According to McGonigue & Mastrian, (2022), “For information to be valuable, it must be accessible, accurate, timely, complete, cost-effective, flexible, reliable, relevant, simple, verifiable, and secure.” p.9.
This information could be valuable to many leaders in the healthcare team. Accessibility would be easiest in form of electronic records and telephone recordings. McGonigue & Mastrian (2022), argue, “Computer science offers extremely valuable tools that when used skillfully, can facilitate the acquisition and manipulation of data and information by nurses, who then can synthesize the data into an evolving knowledge and wisdom base ”p. 35). Accurate and timely information could be an interest in nursing quality and control. One argument on how telephone triage could be cost-effective is that paying nurses to man the phone lines is cheaper than using inappropriate resources such as the emergency room to care that can be directed elsewhere. Flexibility, reliability, simple, verifiable and secure would require a more in-depth look into the nature of telephone triage and program development within a system, but the concept of triage nursing seems to be malleable to the interest of how the data would be used.
An additional source of centralized evidence-based algorithm software program could also be used and from my research is being used in assisting the nurses to effectively triage the caller and ensure best practice standards. Documentation done by triage nurses would have data from the callers that are subjective and objective, the nursing assessment, and recommendations based on the call.
From this data collection, multiple departments within healthcare could use this or would have an interest in this data collection. Intradisciplinary teams have an opportunity to look at how to retrieve data from electronic retrieval of health records or from recorded lines if those are being used. An ambulatory nurse manager might be interested in using the data as a system educator of staff development and improvement strategy to support the training needs within their triage staff. A quality nurse might want to use this data to help in creating of protocol development and safety improvements for effective triage and outcomes. Ambulatory providers could use data to see the patient population’s interests and barriers to care and from there use it to modify their practices. Health information technology departments within health care organizations could be supportive of this nursing department in implementing programs in making documentation more time efficient and detailed. Nursing leadership could use this as a cost-effective strategy.
All departments could build off one another and become temporary team members to gain knowledge and benefit in patient care and satisfaction. Emerging roles could be created as, “Teams are working across boundaries of organizations and will be organized around a particular patient.” (Nagale et al, 2017, p. 215). Within most healthcare systems the mission and visions of these organizations are built on patient outcomes and patient centered care. An informatics nurse specialist could support patients, nurses, providers, and leaders with the interpretation of data analytics and therefore participate in applying new knowledge from data to wisdom. (Nauright et al., 1999)
This hypothetical scenario of a nurse working at a telephone triage call center would benefit immensely from data access, problem-solving and the process of knowledge formation. In a real-time, scenario, I could see how this could impact patient care and outcomes on a global level and be a perfect role for a nurse informatics specialist to pilot.
References
Nauright,L.P.,Moneyham,L.& Williamson,J.1999. Telephone triage and consultation: An emerging role
for nurses,Nursing Outlook, 47(5) , 219-226.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0029-6554(99)90054-4.
Nagle, L., Sermeus, W., & Junger, A. (2017). Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatics Specialist Links to an external site. Links to an external site.. In J. Murphy, W. Goosen, & P. Weber (Eds.), Forecasting Competencies for Nurses in the Future of Connected Health (212-221).
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Dec 3, 2022Dec 3, 2022 at 5:37pm
Response week 1 . Telemedicine
It was great going through your post. Telehealth is a crucial part of our healthcare system, especially with technological advancement in the recent past. I agree with the benefits of telehealth, as your post indicated.It allows access to healthcare information in a swift manner. Technology helped telemedicine reduce congestion in hospitals as patients can easily access information via teleconference. It has also expanded the opportunities for the nurses who interact closely with the patients.
Telemedicine is a sustainable type of healthcare and can open several doors for treatment for patients and practitioners. It saves time, and treatment is convenient and affordable for people who dread visiting the doctor and avoid going to the hospital. In addition, telehealth is helpful in diagnosis, administrative work, and professional and patient education.
A study assessing the effectiveness of telehealth consultations discovered they could improve patient outcomes in certain areas. Telehealth may not help and completely replace traditional office visits — after all, many services and procedures can only be done in person — but it can reduce the need for them. Telehealth effectively reduces the spread of infectious diseases, especially in this Coronavirus (COVID-19) warfare. When other patients have an infectious disease, they can stay home and call their healthcare provider to get treatment. By staying at home, patients do not expose their illnesses to healthcare professionals and other patients. Patients also reduce the chances of contracting an infectious disease from another person or transmitting and spreading their own while using telehealth services.
References
Aggarwal, A. (2017). Telepyschiatry: Current outcomes and future directions. International Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and Mental Health, 5. https://doi.org/10.12970/2310-8231.2017.05.07Links to an external site.
Menage, J. (2020). Why telemedicine diminishes the doctor-patient relationship. BMJ, m4348. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4348Links to an external site.
Stokel-Walker, C. (2020). Why telemedicine is here to stay. BMJ, m3603. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3603Links to an external site.
Collapse SubdiscussionAnupa Mukundram Mehta
Nov 29, 2022Nov 29, 2022 at 4:50pm
Scenario:
A nursing home trach to vent patient comes in to the ER. Their vital signs are a Temperature of 101 F, heart rate of 110, respiratory rate of 24, BP of 85/60. He complains of pain in his back and upon assessment we see a large amount of discharge from his stage 4 sacral wound. Blood work is drawn and white blood cells are greater than 16,000/mm3, with a lactic level of 3. The vital signs are inputted into my charting system, Epic, by the nurse. With Epic, we get an automatic pop-up that due to this patients vital signs, this patient meets sepsis criteria and should be worked up appropriately. When the lab results come back, they are automatically added to epic, which also triggers the sepsis warning. The nurse and provider document their physical assessment, including the stage 4 wound, which along with the sepsis warning pop-up, help us think this may be the source of their infection.
Data collection, Knowledge Derived, Clinical Reasoning:
As you can see from the description of the scenario, data like vital signs, blood work, and a physical assessment are collected and assessed. Knowledge can be derived from that data from our medical knowledge, but as a reminder, the charting system can remind us that a patient meets sepsis criteria. Based on the physical assessment, the nurse can use clinical reasoning and judgement to find the cause of the abnormal vital signs and blood work. The likely diagnosis is sepsis due to a sacral wound. These criteria in the EHR are developed based on evidence-based studies, such as the International Guidelines for Management of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock (Dellinger et al., 2012). I see this scenario very often when I worked as a medical step-down nurse, where many chronically ill, bed-bound, chronically vented nursing home patients came in.
Supporting Data:
As described by Walden University, very soon artificial intelligence is going to be a great support to medical professionals, where when a patient comes in with a certain complaint, asking a certain set of questions will help diagnose or rule out the most common possible conditions (Walden University, 2018). This does not replace the nurse or physician but certainly supports us in our decision-making, just like how the Epic Sepsis warning helps remind us to keep this diagnosis in mind if the patient meets the initial criteria.
Public Health Informatics professionals are the ones who make it so that an EHR like Epic works between different hospitals, outpatient offices, and more (Public Health Informatics Institute, 2017). For example, I would be able to see that the above patient in my scenario had a recent primary care office visit for a fever 1 week prior, and was discharged on antibiotics. When the provider enters the billing code for sepsis, it is thanks to the work of Informatics professionals that that code can be translated from ICD-10 to another medical billing language, so that everyone including insurance companies are receiving the correct information (Public Health Informatics Institute, 2017).
References:
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2018). Health Informatics and Population Health: Trends in Population Health [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Public Health Informatics Institute. (2017). Public Health Informatics: “translating” knowledge for health Links to an external site. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLUygA8Hpfo
Dellinger, Levy, Rhodes, Annane, Gerlach, & Opal. (2012). Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock: 2012. Guideline Central. Retrieved 2022, from http://content.guidelinecentral.com/guideline/get/pdf/3525.
Collapse SubdiscussionShanea Trevino
Nov 30, 2022Nov 30, 2022 at 2:17pm
Greetings Anupa,
Thank you for your example of how nursing informatics can be beneficial to provide treatment plans and medical coding. This sounds like an essential feature that technology is providing for both information and safety in the realm of patient care. I like what Ohno-Machado, 2018, states “Although media attention occasionally concentrates on what can go wrong when information systems are employed in practice, there is also much to say on what might go wrong if information systems were not employed” p.773. This pop-up feature you mention seems to be in alignment with technology use as a benefit. In your experience, how do you see this in time management? Do you agree or disagree with the argument this enables the nurses to focus on analyzing the data rather than obtaining it? Did an informatics specialist train you on the usage of this application?
In my experience, when new technology was added to my practice, I lacked the education on new programs and found new integrations to take time. I feel that could be minimized by having supportive education in assuming new roles and use of new products. There were only a few trainers available during the rollout period of new styles and most of us were “figuring it out” solo. This was frustrating and gave the staff residence to the technology intended to be helpful.
According to Nagle et al, 2017, nursing informatics specialists will be supporting and assuming new roles within data analytics and applying this knowledge. As the scope of practice of nurses changes, nursing informaticians have such an opportunity to support the profession. As healthcare is already vastly integrating new uses of technology there is a growing demand for this specialty to support it.
In hindsight to my experience, I would have advocated more for training to be supportive rather than resistant. Thank you for your scenario to highlight some of my own inner biases based on a negative experience.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning
Nagle, L., Sermeus, W., & Junger, A. (2017). Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatics Specialist Links to an external site. Links to an external site. Links to an external site.. In J. Murphy, W. Goosen, & P. Weber (Eds.), Forecasting Competencies for Nurses in the Future of Connected Health (212-221).
Ohno-Machado, L. (2018). The role of informatics in promoting patient safety. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 25(7), 773–773. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocy079
Dec 2, 2022Dec 2, 2022 at 2:41am
I have come to respect that computer and electronic mediums are here to stay with regard to taking care of patients in the clinical settings as well as remote areas as we all witnessed with the Covid-19 pandemic. Nursing informatics helps with integrating nursing sciences, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, and knowledge in nursing practice (Sheridan, et al., 2016). This definition of informatics is needed in this age and time. The informatics side of technology is what I believe I will need more as I transition into the clinical nurse specialist role. I want to be comfortable with the use of computers, data gathering, and the means to disseminate materials as they help to safeguard patients by preventing errors and harm to patients.
Reference
Sheridan, P., Watzlaf, V., Fox, L., (2016). Health Information Management Leaders and the Practice of Leadership through the Lens of Bowen Theory. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4832128/
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 9:53pm
Anupa,
I enjoyed reading your post, and I agree that health informatics plays a huge role in gathering medical information and making sure it gets communicated to all areas of the integrated public health arena such as other hospitals, outpatient offices, and even urgent care clinics. This however can be our downfall if we rely too heavily on computer systems. We still as healthcare professionals need to know how to utilize communication when technology fails. Some of the negative aspects of EPIC include the cost of EPIC (Pow, 2021). Not all healthcare providers can afford that type of EMR. There was not a current article on the outage that occurred this last month, but EPIC was down for two weeks in some areas, in my area all EPIC access was down for 3 days which included all our local hospitals and clinics, it slowed our usual pace down. According to McCann, something similar happened back in 2014 in Florida and patient safety becomes a top priority in these scenarios ( 2014). Overall, healthcare professionals must be prepared and not rely solely on health informatics.
Resources:
McCann, E. (2014, January 28). Network glitch brings Down Epic EMR. Healthcare IT News. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/network-glitch-brings-down-epic-emr
Pow, A. (2021, April 23). Epic EMR cost – in 2022. The Pricer. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.thepricer.org/epic-emr-cost/#:~:text=The%20Epic%20EMR%20software%20from%20Epic
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 10:37pm
Hi Anupa,
Your scenario was excellent! Technology systems such as EPIC, serve more than 250 healthcare organizations nationwide and store approximately 45 percent of the US population’s health records (Jo Ann Day, 2016) Although the utilization of EHR such as EPIC has greatly impacted overall patient outcomes, there is the human error factor that poses a constraint. In this case, documentation of vital signs and other pertinent assessments was extremely important for the sepsis alerts. For this reason, appropriate treatment was implemented based on set guidelines such as those of the International Guidelines for Management of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock. According to Ruppel & Liu (2019), ”Sepsis is a global health priority of staggering impact, resulting in at least 6 million deaths worldwide each year and contributing to as many one-half of all hospital deaths in the US”. A drawback to the appropriate utilization of information technology such as the sepsis alert trigger is that sometimes, healthcare professionals do not input data in real-time, and end up delaying timely notifications. In my experience years ago as a medical surgical nurse, Nursing Assistants who were responsible for recording vital signs were sometimes unable to record vitals on time and end up documenting vitals at the end of the shift. Although they would verbally notify nurses of abnormal blood glucose and blood pressure, other pertinent information such as respiratory rate and temperature is sometimes overlooked. Uploading an abnormal respiratory rate and low body temperature to a system that already has records of an elevated white blood cell count, will trigger a sepsis alert. If the information was inputted earlier in the day, the appropriate treatment would be initiated in a timely manner. To effectively utilize EHR, I believe that healthcare leaders need to allocate resources to units with higher patient-to-nurse or nurse-assistant ratios. An example will be investing in vital sign machines that automatically upload EHR to the patient chart to avoid delay.
Reference
Jo Ann Day. (2016, September 23). Why Epic | Johns Hopkins Medicine. Hopkinsmedicine.org. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/epic/why_epic/Links to an external site.
Ruppel H, Liu V. To catch a killer: electronic sepsis alert tools reaching a fever pitch? BMJ Qual Saf. 2019 Sep;28(9):693-696. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2019-009463. Epub 2019 Apr 23. PMID: 31015377; PMCID: PMC6702042.
Dec 2, 2022Dec 2, 2022 at 12:41am
Reply#1
Anupa Mukundram Mehta, Greetings to you. Your post was on point and informative.
Technology has added so greatly to the effectiveness of our care. The work that has gone into vital signs and other assessment findings to create alerts when out of range is impressive. In paper forms, essential data can sometimes be missed or even go unnoticed, but having a system that connects the dots help health providers to see the bigger picture. “Advances in technology have been made available to aid nurses perform their jobs and care for patients more efficiently and safely. Nursing today is not the same as it was 30 years ago”(Pepito & Locsin, 2019).
As wonderful as technology is, it requires the working knowledge to derive or identify what is happening with the patients to offer the proper treatment. One cannot overlook the many lives technology has saved. Even the most prudent nurse can make a mistake. We have seen many things that improved in the area of medication administration. “On average, roughly 7,000 patients in the United States die each year from adverse drug events. To help curb these incidents, electronic medication administration has become commonplace”(Impact of Technology in Nursing | Nursing & Technology | Queens, 2020). Technology advancements are happening daily and will continue to revolutionize how we care for our patients. It is such a wonderful thing.
References
Impact of Technology in Nursing | Nursing & Technology | Queens. (2020, December 10). Qnstux; Queen University. https://online.queens.edu/resources/article/impact-technology-nursing/
Pepito, J. A., & Locsin, R. (2019). Can nurses remain relevant in a technologically advanced future? International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 6(1), 106–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.09.013
Dec 2, 2022Dec 2, 2022 at 9:33am
Great Post Anupa,
I use EPIC at my facility as well and very familiar with pop-up alerts for vital signs. There is a rapid response nurse (RRN) and rapid response team (RRT) at my facility who address sepsis alerts, hypovolemic shock and cardiac arrest. In 2020, my hospital added another alert to the RRN role called DI alert. DI alert is an artificial Intelligence (AI) program that use data from vital signs and laboratory values to improve early recognition of patient deterioration. In addition to DI alerts, my hospital adopted another AI program called deep learning-based artificial intelligence (DLBAI), it demonstrated a high performance in predicting cardiac arrest using a single ECG lead (Kwon et al., 2020). I agree, AI have already began to support medical professionals by capturing a tremendous amount of data using innovations and algorithms to store information in the electric health record (EHR) (Cato et al., 2020). AI have made it imperative for nurse leaders to develop clinical reasoning and judgement around assessing data and improving patient quality of care.
References:
Cato, K. D., McGrow, K., & Rossetti, S. C. (2020). Transforming clinical data into wisdom. Nursing Management, 51(11), 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.numa.0000719396.83518.d6Links to an external site.
Kwon, J. M., Kim, K. H., Jeon, K. H., Lee, S. Y., Park, J., & Oh, B. H. (2020). Artificial intelligence algorithm for predicting cardiac arrest using electrocardiography. Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, 28(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13049-020-00791-0Links to an external site.
Dec 2, 2022Dec 2, 2022 at 3:34pm
WEEK 1 RESPONDE 2
Hi Anupa,
Thank you for a great post, I really enjoyed reading and going through it. Like you rightly said, ”very soon artificial intelligence is going to be a great support to medical professionals, where when a patient comes in with a certain complaint, asking a certain set of questions will help diagnose or rule out the most common possible conditions (Walden University, 2018). This does not replace the nurse or physician but certainly supports us in our decision-making, just like how the Epic Sepsis warning helps remind us to keep this diagnosis in mind if the patient meets the initial criteria”. I just want to add that with staff stretched thin by the pandemic, reducing clinician burden is vital. Artificial intelligence can help improve the accuracy of information that clinicians receive so they can better prioritize their time, empowering them to focus on patient care. Artificial intelligence has the potential to help solve some of the biggest challenges facing healthcare today, such as managing costs, physician burnout, and health equity.
REFERENCES
Radtke A, Ousdigian K, Haddad T, et al. Artificial intelligence enables dramatic reduction of false atrial fibrillation alerts from insertable cardiac monitors. Heart Rhythm, 2021-08-01, Volume 18, Issue 8, Pages S47-S47
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2018). Health Informatics and Population Health: Trends in Population Health [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Dec 2, 2022Dec 2, 2022 at 11:58pm
Hello Anupa, thanks for sharing.
I agree that technology is and will magically help improve efficiency in the health care setting. Many a times, i refer to the QSEN competencies whenever i think about technology and health care. For instance, at the moment technologies such as tele-health, tele-nursing, and tele-medicine as well as remote health monitoring are already in use and are impacting health sciences immensely. For example, as opposed to the traditional use of home-visits to offer ongoing patient education, remote health education and follow-up technologies can be used. In addition, remote health monitors including wearable technologies such as wrist watches can monitor a myriad of physiological variables and relay that information to a care provider in the event of an emergency care need. These are just examples of the current changes in health sciences’ practice that have been orchestrated by the technologies we have. However, can this match up to patient-centered care for example? The rapport, the patient-provider relationship, etc may all be compromised? According to a study, there was reported high quality care with technology.
References
Nwosisi, E., Carl, L. and Nwosisi, C. (2012) “A meta-analysis summary of information technology lack of connectivity and usability in Patient Centered Care,” International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 4(5), pp. 512–517. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7763/ijet.2012.v4.422.
“Weekly assessment of patient symptoms using simple technology translates to higher-quality, patient-centered care” (2021) Default Digital Object Group [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1200/adn.21.200749.
Dec 3, 2022Dec 3, 2022 at 9:02pm
hello Anupa
I like your senario and would to emphasize the need for health care staf to learn how to navigate health informatics like EPIC. It is like an acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of health information. Health informatics promotes efficient and effective patient care through the fluid transmittance and retrieval of health care information. The use of technology such as computer systems, software and other technologies promote informatics. A good and simple example of the efficiency and importance of informatics can be seen when considering mail via the post office and emails via computer systems and network. The delivery of mail using email transmittance allows for the quick, efficient and certain delivery of information. Sending information through the post office takes time, vulnerable to be lost as well as being damaged. The same efficiency is needed in addressing patient Care as patients lives at times will be dependent on the efficient transmittal of information. A patient, for example, that meets in a car accident and requires emergency surgery, would benefit from health informatics as the patient’s medical history is readily retrievable from a health care informatics system that links providers to each other. Imagine calling around for patient information or worst yet, writing letters to request patient information. Antiquated systems can jeopardize patient care and patient safety (Alotaibi and Frederico, 2017).
As the main health care personnel, nurses are charged with the responsibility of operating systems that utilize informatics. In addition, nurses should be able to efficiently and fluently use those systems. It is therefore important that nurses understand the full purpose of informatics as well as to navigate any system in their network that utilizes informatics. This is a critical part of nursing care as it promotes proper nursing care for patients as well as to increase positive outcome for the patients as well. Informatics should also be part of the core curriculum in nursing school because it teaches student nurses how to better care for their patients (Leung et. al., 2015). In addition, this core curriculum should again be reinforced in the clinical setting, as there are nuances to different informatics network systems. The nurse should be familiar with these nuances so that they can best utilize the system when dealing with health informatics. Nurses understanding and use of informatics should be greater than any other personnel in the clinical setting as the nurse is the main point of contact for patient care. A nurse, for example, may alert the doctor or others of a patient’s pre-existing conditions or allergies thereby preventing any type of accident. The nurse should also be able to properly train other personnel in using health informatics. In training a new on how to use health informatics, it is also important that the nurse possess basic technology skills such as computer skills and understanding how software works. Health informatics is the wave of the future and the nurse should also be at the forefront of this wave as it directly impacts patient care and patient outcome. It has also been shown that hospitals that uses health informatics efficiently, has more positive patient outcomes (Snyder et. al., 2011).
References:
Alotaibi, Y. K., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health information technology on
patient safety. Saudi medical journal, 38(12), 1173–1180.
Snyder, C. F., Wu, A. W., Miller, R. S., Jensen, R. E., Bantug, E. T., & Wolff, A. C.
(2011). The role of informatics in promoting patient-centered care. Cancer journal (Sudbury, Mass.), 17(4), 211–218.
Leung AA, Denham CR, Gandhi TK, Bane A, Churchill WW, Bates DW, et al. A safe
practice standard for barcode technology. J Patient Saf. 2015;11:89–99.
Collapse SubdiscussionChisom Judith Okogbue
Nov 30, 2022Nov 30, 2022 at 2:55pm
Health Informatics
Health informatics improves the application and management of patient data, clinical evidence, population data, and community environment information (Kim, 2019). Informatics relates clinical science, computing, and information science to provide better medical resources for quality patient care. The concept of informatics is applying reusable evidence-based methods standards in medical institutions. According to (Kim, 2019), informatics uses automation to organize, analyze, manage, and apply information in health systems. Knowledge is a concept of health informatics that explains data progression to usable information.
A hypothetical case of a patient who reports to the hospital with a chief complaint of shortness of breath on exertion might be diagnosed with asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, cystic fibrosis, or low hemoglobin (Kosmala et al., 2019). Although the patient remembers visiting the hospital in the past, she has no memory of medical assessments or interventions. Health informatics carefully maintains patient information for future reference (Rahimi et al., 2018). The medical records show the patient has a PMH of hypertension and a PSH of Cholecystectomy. The patient records indicate the need for diagnostic tests to finalize the growing list of differential diagnoses which now include viral pneumonia, mediastinal cysts, and lung tumors (Kosmala et al., 2019).
Patient information is essential in referencing follow-up visits and similar condition cases. Medical documentation collects all essential information that can be later stored on computing devices (Rahimi et al., 2018). Nurse leaders use clinical reasoning to determine the connection between previous diagnoses and present symptoms. Documentation of successful nursing interventions provides usable treatments for similar cases in different patients. Access to data has to be restricted for patient confidentiality (Rahimi et al., 2018).
References
Kim, H. N. (2019). A conceptual framework for interdisciplinary education in engineering and nursing health informatics. Nurse Education Today, 74, 91–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.12.010
Kosmala, W., Przewlocka-Kosmala, M., Rojek, A., & Marwick, T. H. (2019). Comparison of the Diastolic Stress Test With a Combined Resting Echocardiography and Biomarker Approach to Patients With Exertional Dyspnea. JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, 12(5), 771–780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcmg.2017.10.008
Rahimi, B., Nadri, H., Lotfnezhad Afshar, H., & Timpka, T. (2018). A Systematic Review of the Technology Acceptance Model in Health Informatics. Applied Clinical Informatics, 09(03), 604–634. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1668091
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 12am
Hello Chisom,
Thank you for sharing a scenario that could be used by nursing leaders. I’m fascinated by the ever-changing cognitive load the nursing profession requires and how in the past years with the integration of technology it continues to be changing. “Nurse leaders have a responsibility to recognize signs of cognitive overload among nurses and take active measures to reduce the cognitive burden and its consequences”(Collins, 2020, p. 44).
Electronic documentation in this scenario seems appropriate. If the nurse leaders are determining the connection between previous diagnoses and present, how would that be measured? If the staff nurses are documenting successful interventions, would it contribute to lowering or adding to the cognitive load of their staff? According to McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022, information can be overlapping phases. Would the staff be knowledge workers and nursing leaders be acquirers of the information? I found your example to be a good case scenario to practice how to formulate knowledge processing with informatics. I asked questions because I liked your example. I wanted to see if how I rationalized the working parts would be similar to yours in examining the aspects of the Foundation of Knowledge model in improving patient outcomes and productivity within your scenario. Thank you for your post.
References
Collins, R. (2020). Clinician cognitive overload and its implications for nurse leaders. Nurse Leader, 18(1), 44–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2019.11.007
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 7:40am
Great Post Chirsom!
Health Informatics (HI) have improved the management of patient data throughout different health care facilities. Data tracking on the
electric health record (EHR) have tremendously help identify patients with drug seeking behaviors. Patients would visit many emergency room
(ER) departments among different cities and ask for opioid prescriptions. Many healthcare providers have been approached by these patients
with multiple narcotics request and alleged allergies with the intent to pressure the practitioner into ordering an opioid. As a response to this
scenario, the local health department (LHD) addressed this opioid situation by using a data analysis surveillance system on the electric health
record (EHR) to flag the particular patients who have been prescribed narcotics from two different ER’s (Nguyen et al., 2020). HI have open up
opportunities for the LDH to access data and use the received information to explain how drug seekers navigate through the ER’s. I agree, it is
important to analyze patient information and locate data patterns. Identifying data patterns have open up opportunities for nurse leaders to
integrate prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP) into EHR to improve opioid prescribing practices (Hussain et al., 2020). Accessing
healthcare data has huge benefits for patient care and the ability of nurse leaders to improve their clinical reasoning and judgements.
References:
Nguyen, T. H., Shah, G. H., Khurshid, A., & Olivas, M. I. (2020). Local Health Departments’ Engagement in Activities to Address Opioid Use and Abuse. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Publish Ahead of Print. https://doi.org/10.1097/phh.0000000000001180Links to an external site.
Hussain, M. I., Nelson, A. M., Yeung, B. G., Sukumar, L., & Zheng, K. (2020). How the presentation of patient information and decision-support advisories influences opioid prescribing behavior: A simulation study. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(4), 613–620. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocz213Links to an external site.
Dec 2, 2022Dec 2, 2022 at 8:58pm
Hi Chisom
Hi agree with you and would like to add, Health informatics is very useful in patient safety and patient care (Feldman et. al., 2018). The ability to access and efficiently use data is very important in patient care, especially for nurses. It is therefore important that nurses and other medical personnel understand how to use technology to retrieve important medical data in an effort to optimize patient care. Data created by medical informatics is useless if nurses and others cannot properly retrieve and put it to good use in order to facilitate patient safety (McCullough et. al., 2010). Information and technology skills are essential before the nurse can take advantage of medical informatics. Without these skills, nurses will be ineffective in leveraging medical informatics to increase patient safety and outcome.
Us nurse represents the ideal personnel that would be the best champion for information and technology skills to increase patient safety and outcome. Nurses are the main advocate for the patient as the nurse cares for the patient from day one of the patient’s entry into the hospital. In addition, nurse has the educational background and training that would allow valuable insight of patient data and information
References:
Feldman, S. S., Buchalter, S., & Hayes, L. W. (2018). Health Information Technology in
Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety: Literature Review. JMIR medical informatics, 6(2), e10264.
McCullough JS, Casey M, Moscovice I, Prasad S. The effect of health information
technology on quality in U.S. hospitals. Health Aff (Millwood) 2010 Apr;29(4):647–54.
Dec 3, 2022Dec 3, 2022 at 12:04am
Hello Chisom, thanks for sharing,
I like the scenario you have shared. The EMRs have been very helpful to refer to past medical histories and even drugs histories. Nursing practices are continually evolving to pursue and process new knowledge. (Nagle et al., 2017). Technology, analysis methodologies, ethics, decision support tools, patient care, human-computer interfaces, information systems, imaging informatics, e-learning, electronic medical records, and telecare are all integrated with this discipline. This has created a field of informatics for contemporary nurses (Pramanik et al., 2020). Technology is crucial to providing quality patient care, and its importance, relevance, and participation are increasing. According to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMMS), electronic recording allows nurses to get information quickly and efficiently, which they may then utilize to improve their everyday workflows. All care team members, including doctors and other healthcare providers and a group of personnel at other healthcare institutions that patients may visit, have greater access to information stored electronically.
Reference
Nagle, L. M., Sermeus, W., Junger, A., & Bloomberg, L. S. (2017). Evolving role of the nursing informatics specialist. Stud Health Technol Inform, 232, 212-22.
Pramanik, M. I., Lau, R. Y., Azad, M. A. K., Hossain, M. S., Chowdhury, M. K. H., & Karmaker,
K. (2020). Healthcare informatics and analytics in big data. Expert Systems with Applications, 152, 113388.
Dec 3, 2022Dec 3, 2022 at 12:44am
Reply #2
Hello Chrisom,
Great post, and thank you for sharing.
Information is critical in healthcare. When healthcare professionals cannot retrieve data directly from their subjects, it can interfere with patient outcomes. Not having a complete history of a patient can cause harm to the patient, putting them in a compromising position.
Thankfully, technology has changed that. With technology, doctors can follow the medical blueprint of patient history, treatment, doctor’s visits, and hospitalization. “When health care providers have access to complete and accurate information, patients receive better medical care. Electronic health records (EHRs) can improve the ability to diagnose diseases and reduce—even prevent—medical errors, improving patient outcomes”(Healthit.gov, 2019).
Retrieving a patient’s information saves time, money, and lives. Doctors can initiate treatment, and the patient stresses less. “Through the use of EMRs, nurses and other medical professionals can quickly access critical patient information and reduce or eliminate the need for paperwork” (Bailey, 2020).
References
Bailey, S. (2020, June 3). How Technology Has Changed the Role of Nursing. NurseJournal. https://nursejournal.org/articles/technology-changing-nursing-roles/
Healthit.gov. (2019). Improved diagnostics & patient outcomes. Healthit.gov. https://www.healthit.gov/topic/health-it-and-health-information-exchange-basics/improved-diagnostics-patient-outcomes
Dec 3, 2022Dec 3, 2022 at 9:44pm
Hi Chisom,
As you rightly indicated, health informatics has contributed greatly to the effective application of patient data. Data must be applied correctly to improve overall patient outcomes. As stated explained by Walden University, artificial intelligence (AI) will be an added value to the healthcare industry because of its diagnostic capabilities (Walden University, 2018). A systematic review conducted by Choudhury & Asan (2020), highlighted the pivotal role of healthcare professionals in the safe application of AI. Proper utilization of AI will require dedicated professionals to carry out the human activities that are necessary for this software to operate. There will be a better outcome of diagnosing diseases in a timely manner because providers will have the luxury of diagnosing patients by documenting patient assessment, medical history, symptoms, etc. Overall, I believe that real-life scenarios will be needed to support the effectiveness and safety of AI.
Reference
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2018). Health Informatics and Population Health: Trends in Population Health [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Choudhury, A., & Asan, O. (2020). Role of Artificial Intelligence in Patient Safety Outcomes: Systematic Literature Review. JMIR Medical Informatics, 8(7), e18599. https://doi.org/10.2196/18599
Collapse SubdiscussionSyreeta Doucet
Nov 30, 2022Nov 30, 2022 at 8:33pm
Discussion 1 Response
In this modern era, almost all professions, including the nursing profession, depend on data for their Day-to-day operations and to perform efficiently. Collecting data not only assists in solving problems but is vital to the practitioner’s and the discipline’s body of knowledge. Data is part of the first step in the nursing process. Problems but adds to the practitioner’s and the discipline’s body of knowledge. The field of nursing informatics aims to ensure nurses have access to the appropriate data to solve healthcare problems, make decisions in the interest of patients, and add to knowledge (Walden University, 2018). According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2021), “Nurses must possess the technical skills to manage equipment and perform procedures, the interpersonal skills to interact appropriately with people, and the cognitive skills to observe, recognize, and collect data; analyze and interpret data, and reach a reasonable conclusion that forms the basis of a decision”.
Scenario
The scenario that would rely on informatics within the healthcare system involves patient care management. The scenario involves a patient on the postpartum patient unit who delivered vaginally 10 hours ago on admission, suddenly complained of sharp chest pain and rates the pain as 10 out of 10 on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest pain. The patient also complained of shortness of breath (SOB) and heart palpitation. The rapid Response Team (RT) called. While waiting for the RT to arrive, the patient is connected to a continuous pulse oximeter machine to check his oxygen level. The MD was also made aware by the charge nurse. The pulse oximeter machine showed oxygen of 83% on room air and a heart rate of 140 bpm.
The nurse immediately administered oxygen at 3 L/min via nasal cannula and elevated the head of the bed. The nurse also used the EKG machine to confirm the patient’s heart rhythm. The RT arrived and connected the patient to a defibrillator machine to check for heart rhythm, which will guide the treatment plan. The machine shows sinus tachycardia with a heart rate of 120, Blood Pressure of 175/92, and Respiration of 30. A physical exam shows the patient is distressed due to SOB, rapid heartbeat, and hyperventilation. The patient states she is very anxious. The nurse administered morphine 4mg IV, and STAT labs were drawn to check cardiac markers to rule out heart disease. The patient felt relieved after 15mins of morphine administration, and vitals became stable. The patient was connected to a continuous heart monitor. The data used in the scenario include objective data from the nurse, subjective data from
The patient has data from a continuous pulse ox, EKG, defibrillator machine, and continuous heart monitor. Objective data enabled the nurse to know that the patient may need oxygen due to distress from an SOB. Subjective data informs the nurse that the patient’s symptoms might be due to anxiety. Data from the pulse ox machine confirms that the patient has anxiety and SOB and needs oxygen. The EKG and defibrillator machine confirm the patient’s sinus tachycardia. The heart monitor provides continuous heart rhythm that directs the nurse on the appropriate intervention based on changes in rhythm. The cardiac markers lab results will inform the nurse if the patient chest pain is related to a heart problem or not. All patient information is documented in the patient’s electronic health record (EH) for continuity of care by other providers. A nurse leader in the above scenario will rely on clinical reasoning and judgment by collecting and processing information regarding the patient’s condition before implementing any treatment plan. The managerial level requires the interpretation and modification of information and data for better decision-making processes within the information system(Sweeney, 2017). Virtual health services are becoming a trend globally (Nagle et al., 2017). These efforts will ensure the patient in the above scenario gets the proper diagnoses and treatment and thus obtain the best health outcomes based on evidence-based practice.
References
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2021). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.).
Nagle, L., Sermeus, W., & Junger, A. (2017). Evolving Role of the Nursing Informatics Specialist. Forecasting Competencies for Nurses in the Future of Connected Health, 212–221. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://doi.org/doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-738-2-212Links to an external site.
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare Informatics. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1), 4–1.
Walden University. (2018). Health Informatics and Population Health: Trends in Population Health [Video].
Dec 3, 2022Dec 3, 2022 at 10:28am
Peer response #2
Hello Syreeta
I like the scenario you have shared. Thank you for your example of how nursing informatics can be beneficial to provide critical information and guide our nursing interventions. Which goes in contrast with Sweeney, 2017, “Health informatics and Nursing Informatics are very relevant in evolving health systems. New technology and initiatives are constantly being developed.”
According to McGonigle and Mastrian, 2022, “The data that are processed into information must be of high quality and integrity to create meaning to inform assessments and decision making.” However, nurses are required to have the technical skills necessary to manage equipment and carry out procedures, the interpersonal skills necessary to interact with people in an appropriate manner, and the cognitive skills necessary to observe, recognize, and collect data; analyze and interpret data; and come to a conclusion that is reasonable and serves as the basis for a decision.
The concept of informatics and knowledge is introduced because the nursing profession depends heavily on using information, and the foundation of nursing practice science is the stages of using information, applying knowledge to a situation, and responding with wisdom. On the other hand, the Information is made up of data that is turned into interventions by using knowledge. (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2022)
References
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare informatics Links to an external site.. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1).
Collapse SubdiscussionSarah Gloria Alebesun
Nov 30, 2022Nov 30, 2022 at 9:16pm
Scenario
A 68yr old African American male is admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with a diagnosis of sepsis. He requires vasopressors, fluids resuscitation, and antibiotics. The patient is from a nursing home and recently became bedbound due to a recent Stroke. Past medical history includes diabetes mellitus type 2, hypertension, coronary artery disease, recurrent urinary tract infection, and cerebral vascular accident. The ICU Nurse completed an admission assessment which required documentation of a Braden Scale. The Braden scale is a tool used in predicting pressure score risk to improve the early identification of patients at risk for developing sores (Bergstrom et al., 1987).
Data Collection and Application of Evidence-Based Practice
The Braden scale uses six areas to assess the risk for ulcers. These categories include moisture, activity, mobility, nutrition, perception, and friction/shear. Data collected based on this information populates a score for this patient. This score is then used to determine if patients are at risk for developing ulcers. This Patient’s Braden scale resulted in a very low score after data was inputted into the computer. For this reason, the patient was at very high risk for acquiring pressure injury. The nurse then implemented appropriate measures based on evidence-based practice to prevent skin breakdown. Preventative actions included repositioning this patient every 2 hours, applying pressure-reducing devices to bony prominences, consulting the dietician for adequate nutrition, controlling moisture such as padding on the bed, avoiding the use of diapers according to unit/hospital policy, etc.
Conclusion
The application of evidence-based practices resulted from the collection of data from studies that were successful. As stated in the video presented by Walden University, the utilization of information technology by healthcare professionals will lead to better patient outcomes and reduce costs for consumers (Walden University, 2018). In this situation, proper application of data from the Braden Scale reduces this patient’s risk of acquiring hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI). According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, HAPI rates were reduced from 40.3 to 30.9 per 1,000 discharges between 2010 and 2014. This is due to efforts made by healthcare leaders to properly collect data on patients at risk for HAPI and ensure the implementation of preventative measures (Rondinelli et al.,)
Reference
Bergstrom, N., Braden, B. J., Laguzza, A., & Holman, V. (1987). The Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Sore Risk. Nursing Research, 36(4), 205–210. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3299278/Links to an external site.
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2018). Health Informatics and Population Health: Trends in Population Health [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Rondinelli J, Zuniga S, Kipnis P, Kawar LN, Liu V, Escobar GJ. Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury: Risk-Adjusted Comparisons in an Integrated Healthcare Delivery System. Nurs Res. 2018 Jan/Feb;67(1):16-25. doi: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000258. PMID: 29240656; PMCID: PMC6013055.
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 6:31pm
WEEK 1 RESPONSE 1
Hi Sarah,
I really enjoyed reading your post and you did a great job explaining evidence-based practice and data collection. I just want to add that evidence-based practice has been used in helping healthcare workers to meet the needs of their patients and it uses two different approaches: Infusing research and data collection which empirically supports interventions in nursing practice. The process of implementing evidence-based practice interventions include the process of assessing patients’ needs, selecting the interventions and monitoring the progress by data collection. And like you rightly said proper application of data from the Braden Scale reduces this patient’s risk of acquiring hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI). According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, HAPI rates were reduced from 40.3 to 30.9 per 1,000 discharges between 2010 and 2014. This is due to efforts made by healthcare leaders to properly collect data on patients at risk for HAPI and ensure the implementation of preventative measures (Rondinelli et al.,)
REFERENCE
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2018). Health Informatics and Population Health: Trends in Population Health [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Rondinelli J, Zuniga S, Kipnis P, Kawar LN, Liu V, Escobar GJ. Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injury: Risk-Adjusted Comparisons in an Integrated Healthcare Delivery System. Nurs Res. 2018 Jan/Feb;67(1):16-25. doi: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000258. PMID: 29240656; PMCID: PMC6013055.
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 9:58pm
Peer Response #1
Hi Sara
Your post was very interesting!! The primacy of data in the healthcare industry is directly correlated to the significance of nursing informatics. Nurse informaticists manage, interpret, and communicate data with the primary goal of improving both the quality of patient care and the outcomes of that care using the various electronic medical record systems that are now standard fare in the healthcare industry for the collection of health information across an organization. (How Nursing Informatics Benefits Quality Outcomes, 2021). However, today’s nurses have access to more technology than nurses in the history of nursing, and there are a number of different ways in which health informatics can be used to improve patient care.
The concept of informatics and knowledge is introduced because the nursing profession depends heavily on using information, and the foundation of nursing practice science is the stages of using information, applying knowledge to a situation, and responding with wisdom. On the other hand, the Information is made up of data that is turned into interventions by using knowledge. (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2022)
References
How Nursing Informatics Benefits Quality Outcomes. (2021). Healthstream. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.healthstream.com/resource/blog/how-nursing-informatics-benefits-quality-outcomesLinks to an external site.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Dec 2, 2022Dec 2, 2022 at 8:22pm
Hello Sarah,
Thank you for a great post. I enjoyed reading and going through it. The Braden scale is a standardized, evidence-based assessment tool commonly used in healthcare tools to assess and document patients’ risk for developing pressure injuries. Your scenario proves how important it is to have up-to-date data on your patients and a streamlined way of assessing patient information. Nursing informatics is essential for nurses to provide high-quality care for their patients. Nurses are often required to help coordinate their patient care, which means they must relay information to multiple team members. (How nursing informatics benefits quality outcomes, n.d.). Providers rely on available data and information to solve patients’ healthcare problems (Sweeney, 2017).
References:
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare Informatics. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1).
How Nursing Informatics Benefits Quality Outcomes. (n.d.). Default.
Dec 4, 2022Dec 4, 2022 at 10:20am
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for your discussion on the topic of pressure sore prevention. Evidence Based Practice is also essential in the active prevention of pressures sores as this will help to effectively evaluate patient needs and requirements for prevention.
Pressure sores can be devastating for a patient’s recovery, and even with the use of the Braden Scale, they are still seen in many hospitalized patients. Immobility poses a large risk for pressure sore development (Bedsores (Pressure Ulcers) – Symptoms and Causes, 2022). There are many forms of EBP that can be used to prevent pressure sores and nurses should be consistently evaluating the best ways to prevent these sores. When patients are bed bound, turning them is one of the most important ways to prevent pressure ulcers (Discover Our Tips on How to Prevent Pressure Ulcers or Bed Sores, 2022).
In my own experience, I have seen many nurses who are overwhelmed forget to consistently turn and reposition their patients which can lead to the development or furthering of pressure sores. One effective way that I have seen used to ensure bed sores
are prevented is by placing a turn clock outside of the patients room and writing down when the patient was turned last / when the next turn is due. This allows everyone to see when the patient has been turned and when they should be turned again which allows teamwork within the clinical setting to be utilized in order to ensure bed sores are being prevented.
Thanks for sharing about the importance of using EBP in the prevention of bedsores in patients!
References
Bedsores (pressure ulcers) – Symptoms and causes. (2022, April 19). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bed-sores/symptoms-causes/syc-20355893
Discover Our Tips on How to Prevent Pressure Ulcers or Bed Sores. (2022, October 18). Verywell Health.
https://www.verywellhealth.com/tips-to-prevent-pressure-ulcers-or-bed-sores-1131985
Collapse SubdiscussionAndrea White
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 12:19am
Andrea White
The Benefits of Health Informatics
Health informatics provides important data that can prevent errors. While allowing nurses to assist with coordination of care and improving patient outcomes. Nurses are often on the front lines of ensuring that their patients are kept safe and preventing medication errors, misdiagnoses, falls, and other problems. Health informatics provides important data that can prevent these errors; for example, an electronic record can provide information about a possible dangerous medication interaction or allergy that might not otherwise be immediately apparent. Armed with data, nurses can make quick decisions that keep their patients safe.” (Harness , 2021)
Scenario
I work in the rural area, and we are the only hospital in the county that offers Labor and Delivery services. I had an active high risk labor patient show up in active labor. She was seen by our providers in clinic and was told to establish care with a Level three facility due to a fetal cardiac anomaly noted on ultrasound. She was a poor historian and had a history of methamphetamine use. Our hospital uses Cerner for charting and the providers use Athena for outpatient clinical care. At one time we did not have access to the patients’ medical records. We voiced our concerns of not having access to their computer system and having the need to duplicate procedures without having access to the patient’s history and physical. Access to Athena allowed us to transport this patient to the correct facility in a timely manner. This allowed the patient to have continuity care with the perinatologist that managed her care during her pregnancy.
Leadership
“The healthcare environment is fast-paced, and nurses must be prepared to inspire, innovate, and lead healthcare transformation as the healthcare sector continues to evolve in the application use and support of delivery of care”. (Garcia-Dia, 2021)
References
Harness , J. (2021, April 1). How nursing informatics benefits quality outcomes. Default. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://www.healthstream.com/resource/blog/how-nursing-informatics-benefits-quality-outcomes
Garcia-Dia, M. J. (2021). Nursing informatics. Nursing Management, 52(5), 56–56. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.numa.0000743444.08164.b4
Sensmeier , J. (2021, June). Realizing nurse-led Innovation : Nursing Management. LWW. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://journals.lww.com/nursingmanagement/Fulltext/2021/06000/Realizing_nurse_led_innovation.5.aspx
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 8:40pm
It is very unfortunate that scenarios like that exist, but it’s great that nurses like yourself are stepping up to advocate and make changes in informatics to do better for our patients. Public Health Informatics professionals are the ones who make it so that an electronic health record works between different hospitals, outpatient offices, and more (Public Health Informatics Institute, 2017). As seen in your scenario, their work is essential for patient safety.
I was surprised to read that more than one-half of rural counties in the United States lack adequate maternity services (Hostetter & Klein, 2021). These areas are called maternity deserts and lead to women driving hundreds of miles to seek care, which is part of the rise in maternal mortality in America (Hostetter & Klein, 2021).
References:
Public Health Informatics Institute. (2017). Public Health Informatics: “translating” knowledge for health Links to an external site. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLUygA8Hpfo
Hostetter, & Klein. (2021, September 30). Restoring access to Maternity Care in rural America. Commonwealth Fund. Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2021/sep/restoring-access-maternity-care-rural-america
Dec 1, 2022Dec 1, 2022 at 8:56pm
Hello Andrea,
I enjoyed reading your post!
Medication errors are among the most common health-threatening mistakes that affect patient care. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, more than 100,000 US reports are annually associated with a suspected medication error (Ross, 2019). Such mistakes are considered a global problem that increases mortality rates, length of hospital stay, and related costs (Cheragi et al., 2013). Although all healthcare team members can potentially cause medication errors, nursing medication errors are the most common. The reason is that nurses execute most medical orders and spend about 40% of their time in the hospital administering medications (Cheragi et al., 2013). Prevention of medication errors has become a high priority worldwide. There is plenty of evidence that systems that use information technology (IT), such as computerized physician order entry, automated dispensing cabinets, bedside bar-coded medication administration, and electronic medication reconciliation, are critical components of strategies to prevent medication errors (Agrawal, 2009).
References
Agrawal, A. (2009). Medication errors: prevention using information technology systems. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2723209/
Cheragi, M, et al. (2013). Types and causes of medication errors from the nurse’s viewpoint.