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
Informatics involves many things, such as the processing of information, as well as interactions between humans and the information provided and more. The scenario that I will be focusing on will be failure of lab work notifications, specifically urine culture results, leading to delays in receiving antibiotics for treatment The facility that I am currently working at has had an increase in resident’s cure of urinary tract infections (UTI’s) being prolonged. UTI’s are an infection that can cause many signs and symptoms, such as burning during urination, abdominal pain, foul odor, urge to void, confusion and more. The elderly tend to show more confusion and foul odors coming from their urine.
When residents present with any signs and/or symptoms the doctor is notified as soon as possible. We are then given a urinalysis order so that the resident’s urine can be collected and sent. I began to research different urinalysis results and I saw that some were negative, but residents still presented signs of a possible UTI. I messaged the doctor regarding my concerns and a urine culture was ordered. Urine cultures, unfortunately take a couple of days to result causing signs and/or symptoms to progress. When the cultures came back on the residents, they were positive for UTI. Some cultures grew back Escherichia coli, Klebsiella Pneumonia and more.
Because of these findings I have since begun to always request a urinalysis and urine culture order for the residents when they present with signs and symptoms of UTI’s. This also will allow the correct antibiotic to be administered to the residents because some may flag as resistant to the specific bacteria that grew on the culture. While at the current facility I have learned so much in my role and I am glad that I was able to research why residents would be on antibiotics and continuing to get worse or not getting any better.
One issue that I am trying to resolve is having the informatics team to find a way for the system to notify us when the cultures and urinalysis have resulted. This is because many results have been overlooked and not addressed until days or weeks later. In order to stay on top of this issue I always set an alarm or reminder to remind me to check the resident’s results to decrease the wait time as much as possible when starting their antibiotics. There has been a delay due to switching charting systems as well to accomplish this goal. Once resolved I am expect to see a decrease in delays of residents being treated and also receiving the correct antibiotics. The main focus is to closely monitor for signs and/or symptoms so that urine is collected and results are reviewed by the doctor as soon as possible to begin treatment for our residents.
Resources
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Public Health Informatics Institute. (2017). Public Health Informatics: “translating” knowledge for healthLinks to an external site. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLUygA8Hpfo
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare informaticsLinks to an external site.. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1).
