In the modern healthcare setting, nursing has become heavily dependent on data and information. This profession has become “high tech” because of the development of powerful tools to collect and manage information (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). The contemporary nurses have advanced technology at their disposal than in the past. Although informatics can be used for various purposes, they are mostly applied for solving problems and adding to the current body of knowledge.
Recently, the hospital where I work has been experiencing a high rate of medical errors, some of which cause lengthy hospital admissions. The nurse leader has reprimanded caregivers working with admitted patients due to the problem. From research, I discovered that the problem could only be overcome through the collection and effective analysis of data.
The data that could be used in the situation is patients’ information during admission and on medications. Nursing informatics plays an essential role in the effective collection, analysis, and management of such information to optimize the care offered to patients (Laureate Education, 2018; Sweeney, 2017). The data is critical to match the patient to the correct medication to avoid errors.
Safe and quality care through prevention of medical errors is an essential knowledge that nurses can derive from the data. Nurses should understand the most reliable ways to provide health care to their patients without placing them in the danger of adverse effects of drugs. They should learn how to collect patient data and maintain the information throughout the hospital stay to offer the correct treatment regime.
A nurse leader should use clinical reasoning and judgment from experience. The information will help the leader to contemplate patient care issues and solutions, as well as to make vital judgments from the current and future involvement with medical errors and their prevention strategies.