Analyze how data collection and access can be used to derive knowledge in a healthcare setting
Identify the key functional area(s) of nursing informatics relevant to your current position or to a position you recently held, and briefly describe why this area(s) is relevant
July 19, 2019Strategic leadership team
July 19, 2019Analyze how data collection and access can be used to derive knowledge in a healthcare setting
Question Description
What Is Informatics?
Accessible player
Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). What is Informatics? [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Analyze how data collection and access can be used to derive knowledge in a healthcare setting
- Analyze the role of the nurse leader in using clinical reasoning and judgement in the formation of knowledge
- Explain the role of the nurse as a knowledge worker
- Explain concepts of nursing informatics
- Create infographics related to nursing informatics and the role of the nurse as a knowledge worker
Photo Credit: [IAN HOOTON]/[Science Photo Library]/Getty Images
Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
- Chapter 1, “Nursing Science and the Foundation of Knowledge” (pp. 7–19)
- Chapter 2, “Introduction to Information, Information Science, and Information Systems” (pp. 21–33)
- Chapter 3, “Computer Science and the Foundation of Knowledge Model” (pp. 35–62)
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare informatics. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1).
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Health Informatics and Population Health: Trends in Population Health [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Accessible player
Discussion: 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.
By Day 3 of Week 1
Write 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 Nurse Leader as Knowledge Worker
The term “knowledge worker” was first coined by management consultant and author Peter Drucker in his book, The Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959). Drucker defined knowledge workers as high-level workers who apply theoretical and analytical knowledge, acquired through formal training, to develop products and services. Does this sound familiar?
Nurses are very much knowledge workers. What has changed since Drucker’s time are the ways that knowledge can be acquired. The volume of data that can now be generated and
