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
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.
Solution
Main Question Post
Scenario
A patient presents to the emergency room with complaints of abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting for three days. A computed tomography (CT) scan was done and revealed multiple gallbladder stones. The patient was scheduled for cholecystectomy at 5:30 am the following day. The patient was seen in the hallway on a stretcher. After admission orders were placed, the patient was moved to a room to await surgery. The patient was transferred to one of my assigned rooms and was placed on a pulse oximeter monitor and blood pressure cuff to inflate every 15 minutes. Upon entering Mr. Jakson’s room, his monitor was beeping, showing a pulse rate of 206 beats per minute and unattainable blood pressure. I immediately placed the patient on a cardiac monitor, acquired a 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG), and contacted my colleague to call a doctor. EKG read narrow complex supraventricular tachycardia with a heart rate of 202 beats per minute. A blood pressure reading was obtained and was within normal limits. I then tried a Valsalva maneuver by handing the patient a 10mL syringe with instructions to blow with his lips closed over the syringe for 15 seconds. He then started to complain of nausea and was dry heaving. The patient was alert and oriented to person, place, and time but unaware of his current problem. He denied shortness of breath, chest pain, or discomfort but continued to complain of nausea. The Valsalva maneuver was unsuccessful. The patient received two doses of Adenosine; his heart rate returned to 80 beats per minute with normal sinus rhythm, and his blood pressure was within normal limits. There was no way to tell how long this patient was in SVT in the hallway, which is a clinical concern.
According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2022), nursing science is applied knowledge gained through education, research, and practice. The objective is to restore and maintain health by providing the necessary interventions. Nurses must acquire the skills required to recognize and interpret data to reach a particular conclusion and should be able to perform procedures using the correct equipment. The data used in this scenario was from the pulse oximeter, cardiac monitor, and EKG machine. The information was collected once the patient was attached to monitoring equipment. The data was transferred into the patient’s electronic health record (EHR). The EHR is “a set of integrated tools aimed at digitizing some or all of a patient’s medical record” (Litton, 2024).
The knowledge retrieved from the data was that the patient had an abnormal heart rhythm, SVT, with a heart rate of 202 beats per minute and blood pressure within normal limits. With the advanced knowledge as a registered nurse and from experience, the necessary skills and interventions were provided to achieve sinus rhythm. The foundation of the knowledge model was used in this setting as the feedback from the various technologies was used to monitor the patient.
Nurses are known as knowledge workers. A knowledge worker is one with advanced education who applies such knowledge in critical situations (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). The nurse leader uses clinical reasoning and judgment to form knowledge by analyzing the data collected in the EHR. Nurse leaders use the information system to interpret and modify information to make decisions on caring for the patient (Sweeney, 2017). This data can be used to identify potential risks and develop strategies to improve patient outcomes. In this situation, the nurse leader could collect data on some of the risks of patients receiving care in a hallway and what percentage of patients receiving care in the hallway are at risk of developing undetected complications because they are not on a cardiac monitor. Collecting this information can increase knowledge and thus promote change in the way hallway patients are cared for by providing portable cardiac monitors to each hallway bed.
References
Litton, S. C. (2024). The wild and wooly world of electronic health records (who would have thought?). Practice Innovations. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pri0000270Links to an external site.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare informatics. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1). https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=91f6f364-b6af-4f17-9832-f7a48354e5ac%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPXNoaWImc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=128848047&db=rzhLinks to an external site.
