NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
Sample Answer for NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING Included After Question
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
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY 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 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
Title: NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
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.
A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
Title: NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
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.
A Sample Answer 3 For the Assignment: NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
Title: NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
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.
A Sample Answer 4 For the Assignment: NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
Title: NURS 6051 THE APPLICATION OF DATA TO PROBLEM-SOLVING
I enjoyed reading your post on healthcare data collection. Health systems may use data collecting to generate holistic perspectives of patients, tailor therapies, advance treatment procedures, increase communication between physicians and patients, and improve health outcomes. We can anticipate treatment success, potential dangers for chronic disease, and even self-harm risk by studying behavioral data. At the individual patient level, the health data obtained may be utilized for risk grading, readmission prediction and prevention, infection and deterioration prediction, and much more. The major objective of data gathering in the healthcare business is to establish a foundation for research purposes, among many other reasons. As a result, you will have a better understanding of the whole picture of the investigated region and will be able to make better decisions. These objectives may then be divided into two groups: marketing and preventative tactics.
Preventive interventions are another significant reason to gather data in healthcare. Data that is current and accurate may assist you in developing preventative tactics. For example, you might quickly assess patients’ health problems and administer appropriate therapy.
Data analysis is also important in the healthcare system since it aids in the advancement of patient care and treatment. Health is not a delicate subject just because poor choices might be expensive or ineffective. It’s also a discipline in which optimum efficiency in the speed with which customers are served from the time they arrive at the hospital until they leave is capable of saving lives. Thanks for sharing.
Reference.
Haymer, M., Bespalova, N., Jennings, L., & Lau, B. D. (2020). Data Collection and Research. In The Equal Curriculum (pp. 253-260). Springer, Cham.
Bashshur, R., Doarn, C. R., Frenk, J. M., Kvedar, J. C., & Woolliscroft, J. O. (2020). Telemedicine and the COVID-19 pandemic, lessons for the future. Telemedicine and E-Health, 26(5). https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2020.29040.rb