Have you ever gone online to search for a journal article on a specific topic? It is amazing to see the large number of journals that are available in the health care field. When you view the library in its entirety, you are viewing untapped data. Until you actually research for your particular topic, there is little structure. Once you have narrowed it down, you have information and once you apply the information, you have knowledge. Eventually, after thoughtful research and diligent practice, you reach the level of wisdom—knowledge applied in meaningful ways.
Are there areas in your practice that you believe should be more fully explored? The central aims of nursing informatics are to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. This continuum represents the overarching structure of nursing informatics. In this Assignment, you develop a research question relevant to your practice area and relate how you would work through the progression from data to information, knowledge, and wisdom.
To prepare:
Review the information in Figure 6-2 in Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge.
Develop a clinical question related to your area of practice that you would like to explore.
Consider what you currently know about this topic. What additional information would you need to answer the question?
Using the continuum of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, determine how you would go about researching your question.
Explore the available databases in the Walden Library. Identify which of these databases you would use to find the information or data you need.
Once you have identified useful databases, how would you go about finding the most relevant articles and information?
Consider how you would extract the relevant information from the articles.
How would you take the information and organize it in a way that was useful? How could you take the step from simply having useful knowledge to gaining wisdom?
To complete:
Write a 3- to 4-page paper that addresses the following:
Summarize the question you developed, and then relate how you would work through the four steps of the data, information, knowledge, wisdom continuum. Be specific. Can informatics be used to gain wisdom? Describe how you would progress from simply having useful knowledge to the wisdom to make decisions about the information you have found during your database search.
Identify the databases and search words you would use.
Relate how you would take the information gleaned and turn it into useable knowledge.
Your paper must also include a title page, an introduction, a summary, and a reference page.
Readings
American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice (2nd ed.).Silver Springs, MD: Author.
“Metastructures, Concepts, and Tools of Nursing Informatics”
This chpater explores the connections between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom and how they work together in nursing informatics. It also covers the influence that concepts and tools have on the field of nursing.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2012). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Chapter 6, “Overview of Nursing Informatics”
This chapter defines the foundations of nursing informatics (NI). The authors specify the disciplines that are integrated to form nursing informatics, along with major NI concepts.
Chapter 7, “Developing Standardized Terminologies to Support Nursing Practice”
This chapter explores the need for consistent nursing terminology. The authors also detail the different approaches to developing terminology.
Brokel, J. (2010). Moving forward with NANDA-I nursing diagnoses with Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act Legislation: News updates. International Journal of Nursing Terminologies & Classifications, 21(4), 182–185.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
In this news brief, the author describes the initiatives that NANDA-I will implement to remain abreast of the HITECH legislation of 2009. The author explains two recommendations for the federal government’s role in managing vocabularies, value sets, and code sets throughout the health care system.
Matney, S., Brewster, P. J., Sward, K. A., Cloyes, K. G., & Staggers, N. (2011). Philosophical approaches to the nursing informatics data-information-knowledge-wisdom framework. Advances in Nursing Science, 34(1), 6–18.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article proposes a philosophical foundation for nursing informatics in which data, information, and knowledge can be synthesized by computer systems to support wisdom development. The authors describe how wisdom can add value to nursing informatics and to the nursing profession as a whole.
Rutherford, M. A. (2008). Standardized nursing language: What does it mean for nursing practice? OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 13(1). Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/vol132008/No1Jan08/ArticlePreviousTopic/StandardizedNursingLanguage.html
The author of this article provides justification for the use of a standardized nursing language, which will be necessary for incorporating electronic documentation into the health care field. The author defines standardized language in nursing, describes how such a language can be applied in a practice setting, and discusses the benefits of using a standardized language.
Westra, B. L., Subramanian, A., Hart, C. M., Matney, S. A., Wilson, P. S., Huff, S. M., … Delaney, C. W. (2010). Achieving “meaningful use” of electronic health records through the integration of the Nursing Management Minimum Data Set. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 40(7–8), 336–343.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article explains the nursing management minimum data set (NMMDS), which is a research-based minimum set of standard data for nursing management and administration. The article describes how the NMMDS can be used to minimize the burden on health care administrators and increase the value of electronic health records within the health care system.
Media
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012a). Data, information, knowledge, and wisdom continuum. Baltimore, MD: Author.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2012). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. (p. 98, Chapter 6, Figure 6)
The continuum of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom is used in the health care field to describe discrete levels of understanding related to patient care and decision making. This video provides an overview of the continuum from data to wisdom.
Optional Resources
Truran, D., Saad, P., Zhang, M., & Innes, K. (2010). SNOMED CT and its place in health information management practice. Health Information Management Journal, 39(2), 37–39.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Brown, B. (2011). ICD-10-CM: What is it, and why are we switching? Journal of Health Care Compliance, 13(3), 51–79.
Readings
American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice (2nd ed.).Silver Springs, MD: Author.
“The Future of Nursing Informatics”
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2012). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Chapter 14, “Improving the Human-Technology Interface”
This chapter describes the human-technology interface and explores some of the problems that result from its usage. The author also reflects on methods for improving the interface.
Chapter 19, ”Telenursing and Remote Access Telehealth”
This chapter explores the usage of telehealth in nursing practice. The authors examine the role of telehealth, along with potential issues that may arise in its usage.
Brewer, E. P. (2011). Successful techniques for using human patient simulation in nursing education. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 43(3), 311–317.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article identifies studies that have used human simulation as an effective instructional tool in nursing education. The article describes different strategies for incorporating human simulation into nursing education, and it also offers insight on improvements that could be made to current practices.
Guarascio-Howard, L. (2011). Examination of wireless technology to improve nurse communication, response time to bed alarms, and patient safety. Herd, 4(2), 109–120.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
The author explains the results of a study on the outcomes of using wireless communication devices to improve patient safety by allowing nurses to communicate more quickly and easily with other nurses. The results indicate that this technology can increase the value of team nursing, improve response time, and increase patient safety, although there are some drawbacks and challenges associated with the devices.
Simpson, R. L. (2012). Technology enables value-based nursing care. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 36(1), 85–87.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article describes how technology can be used to address problems in the U.S. health care system, such as lack of consistency and lack of effective treatment. The article explains the use of value-based care initiatives and outlines how nurses can use these initiatives to improve outcomes in treatment and research.
Vinson, M. H., McCallum, R., Thornlow, D. K., & Champagne, M. T. (2011). Design, implementation, and evaluation of population-specific telehealth nursing services. Nursing Economic$, 29(5), 265–272, 277.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Telehealth is defined as health services that integrate electronic information and telecommunications to improve health care access, outcomes, and costs. This article describes how a telehealth implementation project was designed, enacted, and evaluated, and it analyzes the results of that project.
Media
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012c). Health care technologies. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
