Nursing Data Quality

There are infinite ways that nursing data quality relates to decision support. Some of the most obvious would be evaluation of wound care management, rate of healing and appropriate selection and utilization of wound products. Nursing care is tied to quicker discharge from hospitals and educational materials are vital to the success of patients remaining healthy once home. The tools available in most decision support systems include patient education materials that are easily readable and provide support for medications and chronic disease management. Many of the printed materials have contact information for organizations that provide free support groups and comprehensive educational literature that prove helpful when patients are feeling better and more interested in their conditions.

Guidelines, algorithms, protocols, first line therapies are among the many items nurses can find in clinical decision support systems. One can tap into the evidence based plans and read definitions, epidemiology, predisposing considerations, diagnostic testing, and treatment plans using tools that didn’t exist only a few years ago. Patients can demonstrate better outcomes and become more fully partnered with the decisions of providers. For the first time in history, data from research can be obtained quickly and can guide decisions of a medical home team. Decisions then are not as prone to intuition or sequencing events.