Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, asking questions to help clarify the scenario and application of data, or offering additional/alternative ideas for the application of nursing informatics principles.

*Note: Throughout this program, your fellow students are referred to as colleagues.

According to Walden University, nursing informatics allows those in healthcare to use data to provide the highest quality of care to patients (Master of Science in Nursing – Nursing Informatics, n.d.). Using the scenario I provided below, I think using data would determine how beneficial locked units are for individuals.

Scenario

For me, being a psychiatric/detox nurse on a Dual-Diagnosis Unit, I obviously help manage patient’s detox from their chosen substance. Depending on their legal status, their length of stay varies. By this, patients can be involuntary (12B), conditional voluntary (10 & 11), or court-committed (7 & 8); just to name a few. There are many instances where individuals are discharged and then return within a short period of time because they relapse. I think it is important to understand the reasons for their relapse. Does it have to do with their social situation? Other health or psychiatric conditions? Or noncompliance with treatment? What would be the best solution to prevent relapses?

Data

I believe that learning the reasons for an individual's relapse can help healthcare expand what should occur post-discharge. Unfortunately, many individuals do not succeed at remaining sober. That being said, it does not mean that they failed treatment (Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction, 2022). Some patients are discharged home where they do not have structure or help to remain sober. They are sometimes surrounded by the substance they originally had sought treatment for and then end up relapsing. Others choose not to continue their medications. Some, and most substance abuse patients, suffer from other mental illnesses that create a whole new dimension to recovery. 

When patients are discharged, they could continue with a partial hospitalization program (PHP), intensive outpatient program (IOP), or programs such as clinical stabilization services (CSS) (Inpatient vs. Outpatient Rehab, 2014). CSS programs allow the patient to go and live in a facility where they continue to be treated for their addiction without being inpatient (Substance Abuse Disorder Services, n.d.). By gathering data regarding the percentage of people who relapse after discharge, when they do another recovery program vs. returning to society right away, would help nursing and healthcare professionals create a productive discharge plan. In turn, if individuals are able to maintain sobriety, they will not return to inpatient treatment repeatedly.