Module 4 - Part 2

2. How does nursing data quality relate to decision support?

The old saying, “garbage in, garbage out” is apt. Poor quality nursing data input into a decision support system will negatively affect the output and resulting clinical decision. Hebda and Czar (2009) describe the following quality characteristics: timely, precise, accurate, numerically quantifiable, verifiable by independent means, rapidly and easily available, free from bias, or modification with the intent to influence recipients, comprehensive, appropriate to the user’s needs, clear, reliable regardless of who collects it, current, in a convenient form for interpretation, classification, storage, retrieval, and updates. In addition, Hebda and Czar (2009) identify the potential pitfalls of storing, extracting or analyzing data from various formatted databases. This will be a huge impediment to overcome as we work towards a national electronic medical record database.


Works Cited

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Dong, S. L., Bullard, M. J., Meurer, D. P., Colman, I., Blitz, S., Holroyd, B. R., et al. (2005). Emergency triage: comparing a novel computer tirage programwith standard triage. Academic Emergency Medicine , 502-507.

Hebda, T., & Czar, P. (2009). Ensuring the quality of information. In T. C. Hebda, Handbook of informatics for nursings and healthcare professionals (pp. 78-94). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Printice Hall.

Thompson, C. (2003). Clinical experience as evidence in evidence-based practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing , 230-237.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (2003). Judgement under uncertainty: heuristic and biases. Science , 1124-1131.