15 Jan Workflow analysis aims to dete

Week 4 assignment

Using the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom Continuum

Have you ever gone online to search for a journal article on a specific topic? It is amazing to see the large number of journals that are available in the health care field. When you view the library in its entirety, you are viewing untapped data. Until you actually research for your particular topic, there is little structure. Once you have narrowed it down, you have information and once you apply the information, you have knowledge. Eventually, after thoughtful research and diligent practice, you reach the level of wisdom—knowledge applied in meaningful ways.

Are there areas in your practice that you believe should be more fully explored? The central aims of nursing informatics are to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. This continuum represents the overarching structure of nursing informatics. In this Assignment, you develop a research question relevant to your practice area and relate how you would work through the progression from data to information, knowledge, and wisdom.

To prepare:

Review the information in Figure 6–2 in Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge.

Develop a clinical question related to your area of practice that you would like to explore.

Consider what you currently know about this topic. What additional information would you need to answer the question?

Using the continuum of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, determine how you would go about researching your question.

Explore the available databases in the Walden Library. Identify which of these databases you would use to find the information or data you need.

Once you have identified useful databases, how would you go about finding the most relevant articles and information?

Consider how you would extract the relevant information from the articles.

How would you take the information and organize it in a way that was useful? How could you take the step from simply having useful knowledge to gaining wisdom?

By Day 7 of Week 4

Write a 3- to 4-page paper that addresses the following:

Summarize the question you developed, and then relate how you would work through the four steps of the data, information, knowledge, wisdom continuum. Be specific.

Identify the databases and search words you would use.

Relate how you would take the information gleaned and turn it into useable knowledge.

Can informatics be used to gain wisdom? Describe how you would progress from simply having useful knowledge to the wisdom to make decisions about the information you have found during your database search.

Your paper must also include a title page, an introduction, a summary, and a reference page

Week 6 assignment

Assignment: Application: Adoption of New Technology Systems

As a nurse, you can have a great impact on the success or failure of the adoption of EHRs. It is important for nurses to understand their role as change agents and the ways they can influence others when addressing the challenges of changing to a drastically different way of doing things.

Everett Rogers, a pioneer in the field of the diffusion of innovations, identified five qualities that determine individual attitudes towards adopting new technology (2003). He theorized that individuals are concerned with:

Relative advantage: The individual adopting the new innovation must see how it will be an improvement over the old way of doing things.

Compatibility with existing values and practices: The adopter must understand how the new innovation aligns with current practices.

Simplicity: The adopter must believe he or she can easily master the new technology; the more difficult learning the new system appears, the greater the resistance that will occur.

Trialability: The adopter should have the opportunity to “play around’ with the new technology and explore its capabilities.

Observable results: The adopter must have evidence that the proposed innovation has been successful in other situations.

Note: You are not required to purchase Rogers’ book or pursue further information regarding his list of five qualities. The information provided here is sufficient to complete this Assignment. The full reference for Rogers’ work is provided below the due date on this page.

For this Assignment, you assume the role of a nurse facilitator in a small hospital in upstate New York. You have been part of a team preparing for the implementation of a new electronic health records system. Decisions as to the program that will be used have been finalized, and you are now tasked with preparing the nurses for the new system. There has been an undercurrent of resistance expressed by nurses, and you must respond to their concerns. You have a meeting scheduled with the nurses 1 week prior to the training on the new EHR system. Consider how you can use the five qualities outlined by Rogers (2003) to assist in preparing the nurses for the upcoming implementation.

To prepare

Review the Learning Resources this week about successful implementations of EHRs.

Consider how you would present the new EHR system to the nurses to win their approval.

Reflect on the five qualities outlined by Rogers. How would addressing each of those areas improve the likelihood of success?

By Day 7 of Week 6

Write a 3- to 5-page paper which includes the following:

Using Rogers’ (2003) theory as a foundation, outline how you would approach the meeting with the nurses. Be specific as to the types of information or activities you could provide to address each area and include how you would respond to resistance.

Analyze the role of nurses as change agents in facilitating the adoption of new technology.

Week 8 assignment

Assignment: Creating a Flowchart

Workflow analysis aims to determine workflow patterns that maximize the effective use of resources and minimize activities that do not add value. There are a variety of tools that can be used to analyze the workflow of processes and clarify potential avenues for eliminating waste. Flowcharts are a basic and commonly used workflow analysis method that can help highlight areas in need of streamlining.

In this Assignment, you select a common event that occurs regularly in your organization and create a flowchart representing the workflow. You analyze the process you have diagrammed and propose changes for improvement.