Impact of Data Collection in Nursing

One accomplishment that has been made include an increase in the number of nurse leaders. Through the leaders, they can research some of the problems that have been facing the healthcare industry. Better data collection helped to establish some of the areas that need to be addressed and how that can be achieved. There has been an increase in the number of nurses who have gone to further their education to improve quality of service they offer (Grossman, 2016). There has been a shortage of skilled nurses in some areas, and when more nurses seek to further their education, it will help promote better workforce planning and policy making. Data collection has also assisted in the assessment of nursing. For instance, looking at the number of students who enroll to be nursing practitioners and forecasting what needs to be done to increase the number of students.

The second accomplishment has been more involvement of nurses in healthcare planning and decision making. Since 2010, more nurses have been given leadership positions such as managing a team of nurses in a healthcare facility. Through better data collection, factors such as how to change the attitude of the nurses have been better covered. Involvement of nurses’ in the creation of policies in healthcare is essential as they understand the needs and challenges they face (Buchan, 2015). They can better address the problems through the creation of better policies that will transform nursing practice. Some of the aspects that have improved include better motivation for the nurses who in turn provide better services to the patients. The attitude of nurses has also changed, and they have understood they play an essential role in healthcare provision, planning, and development. Though this, it has led to improved healthcare services which help the Institute of Medicine to achieve one of its ultimate goals.

Another accomplishment has been the adoption of information technology in various aspects of healthcare. One of the ways data collection in healthcare has been impacted has been through the adoption of information technology. Some of the processes have changed as it is easy to collect and analyze data related to healthcare. Information technology has helped to maximize efficiency, evaluate the need for the employees and to establish the needs of the patients (Lavin, 2015). That has been achieved through the adoption of technology and has helped to improve healthcare. Another critical aspect that has improved include communication between nurses in different healthcare facilities. Technology helped to look at ways that can be used to enhance curriculum for nursing students.

Ten years before, the healthcare system was facing many challenges which have been better addressed now. Through better data collection and information infrastructure, more ways have been established on how to improve healthcare. Looking at various strategies implemented, a big difference in healthcare can be noted. By looking at the challenges, the patients and health practitioners face, using the data has helped to come up with methods that will be applied to solve the problems. We are on ways to meeting the challenges as research has improved, communication has become better and efficiency in processes attained, and that will lead to effective workforce planning and policymaking. Use of more data collection tools will continue to shape the field of nursing and bring efficiency and better communication. Once that is achieved, the ultimate goal of the Institute of Medicine will be achieved as the quality of healthcare will improve to become more accessible and affordable to more people.

References.

Buchan, J., Twigg, D., Dussault, G., Duffield, C., & Stone, P. W. (2015). Policies to sustain the

nursing workforce: an international perspective. International nursing review, 62(2), 162-170.

Grossman, S., & Valiga, T. M. (2016). The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of

nursing. FA Davis.

Lavin, M. A., Harper, E., & Barr, N. (2015). Health information technology, patient safety, and

professional nursing care documentation in acute care settings. Online J Issues Nurs, 20(6).