Application of Data in Problem Solving Essay Paper

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.

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.

Application of Data in Problem Solving

Data is of much value in nursing care delivery. In fact, data management presents opportunities for problem-solving and knowledge formation as it helps to build the foundation for clinically meaningful, reliable and accurate measurements across the care setting and system. In applying data elements, nursing practice is able to reliably and consistently allow for information to be collected once and reused for multiple purposes, to include decision support, research, population health, surveillance, improvements in practice level, and outcomes measurement (Sensmeier, 2015).

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A scenario of nursing making use of data is one in which patient feedback is collected. The data would then be used to inform on delivery of nursing services, communication, interactions and suggestions for improvements. For instance, the feedback can indicate if the nurse personnel are cordial to patients and their families, in which case the organization can present targeted communication training to the nurses.  Application of Data in Problem Solving Essay Paper

In this scenario, the data that is used is the feedback from patients who made use of the facility’s nursing services. The data might be collected through structured questionnaires delivered to patients at discharge. The questions presented in the questionnaire would focus on evaluating how the patients perceive their interactions with nurses, information on what was done right and wrong, and suggestions for making improvements to improve the experience.

Multiple variables, such as the age, nursing care needs, duration of stay and care department, influence management decisions. Correspondingly, the multiple variables have an impact on the specific communications training modules in the clinical environment (Wicker & Browning, 2020). Besides that, the nurse leader would apply clinical reasoning and judgment in evaluating the interventions in terms of what worked or did not work and if additional changes are required (Bauer, 2017). In this respect, data is useful in the management of nursing services delivery as it helps with problem solving and forming knowledge about the care environment.

References

Bauer, J. (2017). Statistical Analysis for Decision Makers in Healthcare: Understanding and Evaluating Critical Information in Changing Times (2^nd ed.). CRC Press.

Sensmeier, J. (2015). Big data and the future of nursing knowledge. Nursing Management, 46(4), 22-27. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000462365.53035.7d

Wicker, Z. & Browning, B. (2020). Visualizing Health Care Statistics: A Data Mining Approach (2^nd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.  Application of Data in Problem Solving Essay Paper