Information is everywhere. Every day, we interact with humans and technologies that collect information at work, in our activities of daily living, anytime we use our mobile devices, and even when we are asleep. Information when collected becomes data, which is defined as a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables about one or more persons or objects.
What about nurses? How often do nurses interact with data? Or should we ask when do nurses not interact with data? Nurses use data so much that it is hard to identify a nursing role that does not use it at all. From a frontline nurse taking care of a patient at the bedside, to a nurse practitioner providing care at a clinic, to a home health nurse visiting a recovering client, all types of nurses either collect, analyze, or interpret data all the time.
In 1863, Florence Nightingale stated, “In attempting to arrive at the truth, I have applied everywhere for information, but in scarcely an instance have I been able to obtain hospital records fit for any purpose of comparison. If they could be obtained, they would enable us to decide many other questions besides the one alluded to … If wisely used, these improved statistics would tell us more of the relative value of particular operations and modes of treatment than we have any means of obtaining at present.” As Florence Nightingale alluded to, useful data is vital to discover the best patient care practice. The desire to find ways to improve care and achieve better patient outcomes is clearly deep in the roots of nursing.
In our profession, we hear ourselves asking important queries related to nursing practice, processes, and workflows. Often, we get stuck thinking and talking about the problem rather than determining the best possible solution because we don’t have data to support our assumptions. These challenging moments prove why nurses need useful data to make data-driven decisions. How wonderful it would be if you were able to answer every clinical practice or process question you encounter through data mining and analysis using business intelligence platforms! How amazing it would be if artificial intelligence were deployed to run workflows and clinical decision support based on data collected from every nurse-to-patient interaction. Nurses need data to disrupt healthcare and improve the patient care delivery across the globe.
Is limited availability and access to data the biggest hurdle to becoming a data-driven nurse? Or do we consider limited understanding and knowledge of data use as part of the problem? There are terabytes after terabytes of healthcare operations and clinical data untapped for data science use. Unused data are calling out scientists who can use them to improve clinical processes and outcomes. But can nurses be data scientists? Do nurses have the skills, knowledge, and experience to analyze and interpret data?
Absolutely.
In the most recent press release by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the Future of Nursing 2020-2030, the report stated, “Nurses live and work at the intersection of health, education, and communities. Nurses work in a wide array of settings and practice at a range of professional levels. They are often the first and most frequent line of contact with people of all backgrounds and experiences seeking care and they represent the largest of the health care professions.” Furthermore, the Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report’s sixth recommendation stated, “All public and private health care systems should incorporate nursing expertise in designing, generating, analyzing, and applying data to support initiatives focused on social determinants of health and health equity using diverse digital platforms, artificial intelligence, and other innovative technologies.”
When use of data and nursing expertise merge, innovation and better outcomes transpire.
But do nurses need data?
Also absolutely. As nursing continues to evolve from being a task-oriented career to a change-oriented, innovation-focused profession, nurses will need usable data to empower them to make a difference in healthcare.
Do data need nurses?
Most definitely. As technology progresses and humans become more comfortable with it, more and more translatable data will be available for clinical and operational use. Data will not convert itself into information translatable for practical application. Data will need subject-matter experts such as nurses who can use information and develop it to something life-changing.
However, these two questions I’ve posed cannot be completely answered without answering this question first: “What are our responsibilities as nurses in the use of data?”
As the Peter Parker principle states, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Please allow me to rephrase this to, “With big data comes great responsibility.” Our responsibilities as nurses are to:
- Continue to be inquisitive and relentless to find answers through data like the pioneers of modern nursing.
- See ourselves as not “just a nurse” but as professionals who drive change through innovation and implementation science.
- Be data-driven, seeking sources of data to analyze and resolve the root cause of the problem.
- Advance our knowledge to new concepts, methods, and technologies to help get better insights from data.
- Partner and collaborate with researchers, data scientists, innovators, information technology and informatics experts to take steps toward improving patient care and healthcare practices.
If these responsibilities are promoted by leaders and administrators, at nursing schools and healthcare institutions, and in professional agencies and organizations, we, as modern nurses, can change the world.
Jethrone Role, DNP-NI, RN, LHIT, is the director of Supplemental Staffing Network at Loma Linda University Health in Loma Linda, California, USA. He is a member of Sigma’s Phi Gamma Virtual Chapter.