The DIKW Model : Computer Science And Information Science

The objective of this synthesis paper is to present my readers what I have achieved during my graduate program at American Sentinel University (ASU). It assimilates all my course work, clinical experience, and nursing practice during this time, which presents a complete picture of how I accomplished my Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) consequences and Nursing Informatics track competencies. This paper will pinpoint my personal philosophy of nursing informatics and give a concise summary of my professional achievements, competencies developed during program of studies, and goals for life-long learning as an informatics nurse. The occupation of nursing is considered as both an art and science. Development of nursing comprises evidence‐based practice and fast integration of advances in technology. It is a field that has extensive uses in healthcare, as well as specialty practice. Educational curriculum and degree/certification are choices for nurses to pursue in this exciting field.

The nursing field is caring, dependable, and effective. None of which could be accomplished without teamwork, collaboration and informatics. I believe these concepts are fundamental in the nursing profession. Nurses must work with other healthcare staff, the patients and their families to provide patient-centered and quality care. The use of informatics enhance both the quality of care the clients receive and the teamwork and collaboration aspect of nursing. No one nurse can do it all on their own. Nursing requires the use of teamwork and new technology.

Technological advancement is very rapidly affecting every aspect of life and is making an immense impact in Health Care. My clinical experiences as a staff nurse caring for patients can be effectively integrated with technology in the Nursing Informatics field. To make valuable contributions to the field of Nursing Informatics, I realized that a Graduate degree would be very beneficial. Therefore, I decided to pursue my MSN in Nursing Informatics to achieve my goal of using my skills and knowledge in the best possible way to make effective advancements in the field of nursing informatics for a constructive impact on my patients’ health and my colleagues.

There are different types of knowledge and different ways of knowing. Four fundamental concepts of knowing in nursing highlighted by Caper (1978) are empirical, personal, ethical and aesthetic. He divided knowledge into two forms which are tacit and explicit. Tacit is insights and based on experience and not easily visible and expressible, difficult to share and communicate with others which is highly personal. Empirical sources of knowledge depend upon an individual’s manner of observing and responding to events in the outside world (Higgs et al, 2004). Whereas explicit is formal and based on rationality and easily can be expressed, shared, communicate which are highly universal principles. Rationalism comes from within the individual and

The standards of practice for nurse informatics, modeled after the nursing process, describes the knowledge, competency level, and professional performance level required of the nurse practicing informatics. Nursing practice is guided by nursing informatics. The nurse informatics specialist manages complex systems by means of assessment, research,

Dr. Murray’s article states that nursing informatics is the combination of sciences; computer, information and nursing which helps to “manage and process nursing data, information and knowledge to support the practice of nursing and the delivery of care” (Murray, 2010, p. 3). Collecting information while

The target audience at this time is business and other health care professionals as the need to have nurses recognized as assets to the fast moving execution of electronic systems in health care, soon to replace paper, is urgent. If more nurses are not involved in this process as expert consultants, there is a high risk of failure and inevitably patient safety. I will not directly target the public but indirectly as I believe once health care and business professionals view nurses as experts in our profession overall, then their perceptions and opinions will reach the public. The obstacle will be persuading those with little health care understanding just how nursing can be affective. Business leaders are all about deliverables, making sure they are provided. How the product is packaged is not of great concern; patient safety is not a term truly understood by non-clinical analysts and project managers. Within eHealth in general, the organizational structure from top down holds minimal if any clinical knowledge beyond the high level business of healthcare.

Informatics is a specialty in the nursing field that is combined with certain science. As stated by ANA (2008) “nursing informatics (NI) is a specialty that integrates nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice” (p. 65). ANA further focus on the functional areas rather than the role that guides the scope of practice within NI. These functional areas include: “administration, leadership, and management; analysis; compliance and integrity management; consultation; coordination, facilitation, and integration; development; educational and professional development; research and evaluation; policy development and advocacy; and telehealth” (CCN, 2015, para. 1). With these functional areas in mind, a nursing informatics specialist can perform proficiently, depending on the specific task. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to summarize the result of an interview with a NI specialist and analyze the differences and similarities between the interviewee’s functional areas with that of scholarly ones.

American Association College of Nursing. (n.d.). Master’s Education for Advanced Practice Nursing. Retrieved from American Association of Colleges of Nursing: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/MasEssentials96.pdfCipriano, P.F., & Murphy, J. (2011). Nursing Informatics, The Future of Nursing and Health IT: The Quality Elixir. Nursing Economics, 29(5), 286-282

Nursing informatics is a branch of nursing or area of specialty that concentrates on finding ways to improve data management and communication in nursing with the sole objective of improving efficiency, reduction of health costs, and enhancement of the quality of patient care (Murphy, 2010). It is also described as a growing area of nursing specialty that combines computer science, information technology, and nursing science in the management and processing of nursing information, data, and knowledge with the sole objective of supporting nursing practice and research. Various nursing theorists have formulated various theoretical frameworks or models related to nursing informatics (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013), and they are defined as a

With the rapid growth in the implementation and use of electronic medical records, there is an increase in how we define the role of nurses and other team member’s (Deese & Stien, 2004). Along with providing optimal care, nurses are also responsible for interpreting and accurately documenting large amounts of information. According to, (Ericksen, 2009) nursing informatics is defined as the integration of nursing, its information, and information management with information processing and communication technology to support the health of people worldwide. In this

Demographic shifts in the global population, greater levels of technological disruption due to the Internet, social media and the en masse adoption of smartphones and tablet PCs are together re-defining the healthcare informatics market. System and informatics theories have emerged as the foundational elements of healthcare informatics supported by the Data, Information. Knowledge (DIK) Model which acts as a taxonomy for these developments (Haugh, 2005). Systems and informatics theories along with the DIK Model form the ontological foundations of healthcare informatics field of research occurring today and will continue to provide a basis for further research (Braganza, 2004). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the contributions of systems and informatics, the role of the DIK Model, expert systems in nurse care and medicine, and the use of decision aids and decision support systems. All of these elements are critically important to strategic information systems plans healthcare providers put into place to serve patients while giving healthcare professionals the applications, systems and software they need to excel in their roles (Djellal, Gallouj, 2007).

As healthcare moves from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, a new role for nurses as knowledge workers comes in its wake (McGonigle & Mastrians, 2015). In his definition of a knowledge worker, O’Grady cited “that the knowledge worker is someone who synthesizes a broad array of information and knowledge from a wide variety of sources and brings that synthesis to bear on nursing work” (O’Grady & Malloch, 2003, para. 2). Thus, a knowledge worker is one who translates and integrates information that would eventually be applied in the context of patient care (O’Grady & Malloch, 2003). Nurses, as knowledge workers, therefore, have moved “from the process and function orientation to that of outcome and evidence-based direction” (O’Grady & Malloch, 2015, para. 1).

Metastructures are concepts which are all encompassing. These concepts are used in theory and in science (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012). The concepts of “data, information, knowledge, and wisdom are used as a framework for understanding clinical information systems and their impact on health care” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012, p. 97). Through the works of Graves and Concoran, they show a relationship between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. A transformation occurs between each level and with that there is an increase in the complexity which requires a higher level of human intellect for application of concepts to take place (American Nurses Association, 2008). The purpose of this paper will look at a chosen clinical question while using the continuum of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom to research this chosen question, to determine if informatics can be used to gain wisdom.

Nursing Informatics is a union of nursing, technology, and data assimilation. Nursing Informatics deals with using technologies to organizing and delivering healthcare in the most efficient and safest manner. Nursing Informatics consist of countless tools ranging from simple computers to the complex electronic medical records systems (EMR), diligently designed to organize and deliver information. Nursing informatics silently streamlined into the management and delivery of healthcare; you have probable used nursing informatics without even knowing it.