Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge

Knowledge plays an invaluable role in nursing practice since it enables care practitioners to implement practical disease prevention and health promotion measures at all level of care.

These professionals apply diverse theoretical perspectives to achieve the anticipated health outcomes. The need to use a high level of knowledge and competence skills has increased significantly in the modern time due to the dynamic nature of the health care system. Gaining more knowledge from literature and research studies have become relevant over the years. Information obtained from literature sources usually analyzed comprehensively and used in the development of relationships that foster knowledge application to practice.

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Summary of the Research Question

Nursing informatics is one of the solid platforms that can be used to gather relevant information concerning certain health issues. During research, nurses rely on various aspects of informatics to gather information that is then translated into practice (Zipperer, 2014). This information can also be used in supporting proposed changes in nursing practice. The research question developed in this paper to show how the steps of the data, information, knowledge, and wisdom continuum work are whether in critically ill patients hand hygiene can reduce the risk of central line-associated bloodstream infections.

Generating Useful Information

The search for information on a specific health topic follows a set of steps which include identification of a problem, the search database, the search terms, the proposed intervention, application into practice and support for long-term benefits. The health problem being addressed in this paper is the increased prevalence of CLABSIs in critical care units.

The search for information from electronic databases has been identified as the most potent search strategy. Databases such as COCHRANE, PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, and EBSCOhost can be used for the search. These databases provide a reliable platform to conduct a literature search since they contain a huge number of health-related peer-reviewed research articles. The most relevant search terms to use for the identified research question are CLABSIs, hand hygiene, prevention of CLABSIs, and critically ill patients.

The use of specific search terms enables the researcher to generate articles that address the core issues of the research question (Magnuson & Fu, 2013). However, despite the use of search terms not all of the articles generated are relevant to the research question. Reading through the abstract makes it easier for the researcher to have a glimpse of the information contained in the article. All articles with information that is not related to the research question are discarded at this stage. Once the relevant articles are identified, a comprehensive analysis of the information contained therein is done to identify possible connections between the research problems and the proposed intervention.

Translating Information into Usable Knowledge

The findings of the analyzed research studies can be summarized and tabulated or arranged in graphs and charts to make it more comprehensible. This information can further be translated into a usable form by highlighting the connection between hand hygiene and CLABSIs. Another way of translating information from literature sources is by describing the rationale behind the conclusions and the recommendations made by the researchers (Zipperer, 2014). This move ensures that raw information from the different articles is transformed into logical knowledge.

Using Informatics To Gain Wisdom

Informatics has been identified as a practical way of increasing knowledge and gaining wisdom among health care professionals. Nurses use informatics platforms to gather information which subsequently improves their knowledge on a wide range of health issues. This knowledge acts as a power the promotes the development of practical nursing skills (Yoder-Wise, 2014). Information gathered through nursing informatics platforms increases the nurses’ capability to resolve complex issues. When dealing with CLABSIs, for instance, nurses can use nursing informatics to determine the most effective intervention.

Translating knowledge into practice

There are several ways by which nurses can translate knowledge into practice. These strategies include the development of infection control policy, conducting hospital-wide educational programs to sensitize other care providers on the proposed intervention and patient education among others. Nurses can also demonstrate the proposed intervention to their colleagues and health care team members (Yoder-Wise, 2014).

Conclusion

Knowledge plays an invaluable role in nursing practice since it enables care practitioners to implement practical disease prevention and health promotion measures at all level of care. Nursing informatics is one of the major platforms that enable nurses, researchers, and scientists to conduct studies aimed at generating new information besides increasing knowledge concerning certain health care issues. The search for information on a specific health topic follows a set of steps which include identification of a problem, the search database, the search terms, the proposed intervention. Nurses analyze information obtained from literature sources to come up with conclusions and recommendations that align with proposed interventions for identified health problems.