Question  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. The Application of Data to Problem-Solving 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?

The Application of Data to Problem-Solving

In the modern healthcare landscape, where healthcare operationalizations are data-driven and patient-oriented, data collection is essential. Dash et al. (2019) note that hospital data collection provides a pathway toward clinical problem-solving and decision-making. A scenario where data collection was necessary was when a new health information technology was being implemented at a local healthcare facility I was attached to. In such a scenario, accurate data collection informs the level of caregiver adoption of the new technology and the compatibility of the new system with other available systems.

When implementing new systems, a wide range of information is required to ascertain their suitability. These include the caregiver’s understanding of the new system, the ability of the system to solve the clinical problem to which it was intended, compliance of the system with hospital policies on privacy and security, and ease of use (Grossi et al., 2021). Employee feedback can help inform the ease of use and understanding of the new systems. Feedback can be obtained through structured surveys, usability testing, and live chatting during conventional hospital gatherings. Clinical indicators such as the number of clients served, the downtime between each client served, and the number of systems breakdowns may also be suggestive of the systems’ efficiency, especially when the system is designed to handle patient flow (Ebnehoseini et al., 2019). Information from the collected data can be used to inform the level of adaptability of the employees to the new system, their understanding of the system, and improvement areas.

In this case, nurse leaders can utilize their experience with the new systems to inform on quality improvement measures in healthcare, as well as employees’ adoption of change processes. As healthcare leaders, nurse leaders leverage their skills and experiences in making critical decisions affecting healthcare operationalization in its entirety (Frilund et al., 2023). Experiences such as the one above will help them better understand their subjects and know how to introduce change processes and areas to exploit for maximal adoption of the change process.

References

Dash, S., Shakyawar, S. K., Sharma, M., & Kaushik, S. (2019). Big data in healthcare: Management, analysis, and prospects. Journal of Big Data, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-019-0217-0

Ebnehoseini, Z., Tabesh, H., Deldar, K., Mostafavi, S. M., & Tara, M. (2019). Determining Hospital Information System (his) success rate: Development of a new instrument and case study. Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, 7(9), 1407–1414. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2019.294

Frilund, M., Fagerstrøm, L., & Vasset, F. (2023). The challenges of change processes for nurse leaders—a qualitative study of long‐term leaders’ experiences over 25 years. Nursing Open, 10(8), 5423–5432. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.1781

Grossi, A., Hoxhaj, I., Gabutti, I., Specchia, M. L., Cicchetti, A., Boccia, S., & de Waure, C. (2021). Hospital contextual factors affecting the implementation of Health Technologies: A systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06423-2