NURS 6051S Week 5 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards

The ability to track opioid prescriptions has been crucial during the opioid epidemic. Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP) track controlled substance prescriptions through an electronic database (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). The main issues with this program are it is statewide, inability to access, breach in confidentiality, and optional for providers. Many states have their own tracking program NURS 6051S Week 5 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards. If a patient lives near the boarder of multiple states, they could potentially jump state lines for more prescriptions. Each states requirement varies, it is recommended providers check the system before each opioid prescription (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020).

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One risk that is ongoing is breach in confidentiality. One study suggested patients’ information may be compromised while trying to retrieve results from PDMP (Alogaili et al., 2020). My current employer utilizes screen time outs. If there is no activity on the computer within a minute period, the screen locks. This is great, as nurses we get pulled away urgently sometimes and this protects the computer system. Patients do not have to give consent to be entered into this system. Many patients feel this is a violation of their privacy rights. However, it was determined consent is not necessary to allow for more accurate tracking. NURS 6051S Week 5 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards.

Many organizations use various medical devices. Medical devices do not always provide the same level of protection, and could be more vulnerable to hacking (Blass, 2019). With these devices extra security may be necessary. Putting limits on the device for what can be accessed will add an additional layer of protection (Blass, 2019). Education for the limitations of each device is crucial for staff that will have access to each device.

PDMP is a great resource to help combat the opioid crisis. The largest risk factor in using the data system is breach in confidentiality. By putting timers on computers, this limits the ability for anyone to look on the computer. Medical devices need extra layers of security to prevent fraudulent attempts. These are just a few ways to combat the risks associated with the use of this big data program.

References

Alogaili, F., Ghani, N. A., & Shah, N. A. K. (2020). Prescription drug monitoring programs in the us: A systematic literature review on its strength and weakness. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 13(10), 1456-1461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiph.2020.06.035

Blass, G. (2019). 9 steps for a functional compliance program. Journal of Health Care Compliance, 21(1), 33-36.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Prescription drug monitoring programs. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdmp/providers.html

Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards

When you wake in the morning, you may reach for your cell phone to reply to a few text or email messages that you missed overnight. On your drive to work, you may stop to refuel your car. Upon your arrival, you might swipe a key card at the door to gain entrance to the facility. And before finally reaching your workstation, you may stop by the cafeteria to purchase a coffee. NURS 6051S Week 5 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards

From the moment you wake, you are in fact a data-generation machine. Each use of your phone, every transaction you make using a debit or credit card, even your entrance to your place of work, creates data. It begs the question: How much data do you generate each day? Many studies have been conducted on this, and the numbers are staggering: Estimates suggest that nearly 1 million bytes of data are generated every second for every person on earth NURS 6051S Week 5 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards.

As the volume of data increases, information professionals have looked for ways to use big data—large, complex sets of data that require specialized approaches to use effectively. Big data has the potential for significant rewards—and significant risks—to healthcare. In this Discussion, you will consider these risks and rewards.

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and reflect on the web article Big Data Means Big Potential, Challenges for Nurse Execs.
• Reflect on your own experience with complex health information access and management and consider potential challenges and risks you may have experienced or observed.

By Day 3 of Week 5

Post a description of at least one potential benefit of using big data as part of a clinical system and explain why. Then, describe at least one potential challenge or risk of using big data as part of a clinical system and explain why. Propose at least one strategy you have experienced, observed, or researched that may effectively mitigate the challenges or risks of using big data you described. Be specific and provide examples.

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By Day 6 of Week 5

Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, by offering one or more additional mitigation strategies or further insight into your colleagues’ assessment of big data opportunities and risks NURS 6051S Week 5 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards.

Big Data Risks and Rewards

Big data has big potential in the health care sector to inform clinical practice and contribute to improved patient outcomes.  The key to unlocking that potential lies in using effective data storage and analysis to mine information and use it to support or establish evidence-based clinical practices that are conducive to improving patient outcomes (Wang et al., 2018).  In order to ensure that this potential is realized, nurse leaders need to support nurses in becoming competent in analytics and how to apply information to patient care (Thew, 2016).

A potential benefit of using big data as part of a clinical system is the optimization of new or existing clinical operations.  Big data analysis reveals patterns and trends in patient information that can inform how to direct resources to deliver care in a manner specific to their needs (Thew, 2016).   When clinical practice can be tailored to specific needs based on analyzed data, the delivery of care has been optimized for that patient or patient population (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017) NURS 6051S Week 5 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards.

A potential risk of using big data as part of a clinical system is a violation of patient confidentiality and privacy.  Since personal health information is stored electronically in virtual clouds managed by third-party vendors, the potential for security to be breached is increased (Wang et al., 2018).   One strategy that has been applied is ensuring that safeguards have been put in place to control access to personal health information, whether the data and information are at rest, in a hard drive or in a storage cloud, being processed, or being transmitted across systems (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017).

References

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Thew, J. (2016, April 19). Big data means big potential, challenges for nurse execs. HealthLeaders. https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/nursing/big-data-means-big-potential-challenges-nurse-execs

Wang, Y., Kung, L., & Byrd, T. (2018). Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities and potential benefits for healthcare organizations. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 126, 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2015.12.019   NURS 6051S Week 5 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards