Nursing Informatics

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid utilize several minimum data sets that which are minimum sets of information with uniform definitions and categories. Data sets are clusters of information regarding a particular disease, intervention or treatment (Sewell & Thede, 2012). Until recently, these data sets did not contain any nursing sensitive data despite the fact that clinical decisions were made based on these data sets and nursing documentation was seen as a method to prove that physicians had been carried out. In response to this, The American Nurses Association (ANA) has accepted the nursing minimum data set in 1999 and the nursing management minimum data set in 2003 (Sewell & Thede, 2012). The nursing minimum data set is defined as the minimum set of items of information with uniform definitions and categories concerning the specific dimension of professional nursing, which meets the information needs of data users within the system (Woodsen, 2015). The nursing management minimum data set is defined as Data variables categorized into environment, nurse resources,and financial resources that are needed to inform the decision making process of nurse executives related to leading and managing nursing services (Woodsen, 2015). Having minimum data sets in place will benefit nursing now and in the future because these data sets create a more universal language that will undoubtedly improve overall patient care, communication and data collection (Rutherford, 2008). Further information to support the benefits as well as the data sets can be found by reading this brief summary. References Rutherford, M. (2008). Standardized nursing language: what does it mean for nursing practice? The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, (Retrieved January 31, 2015 from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ThePracticeofProfessionalNursing/Health-IT/StandardizedNursingLanguage.html Sewell, J. & Thede, L. (2012). Informatics and nursing: opportunities and challenges. Retrieved January 31, 2015 from http://dlthede.net/Informatics/Chap16Documentation/anarecterm.html Woodesen, B. (2015). ANA recognized terminologies and data sets. Retrieved January 31, 2015 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/54800799/ANA-Recognized-Terminologies-and-Data-Element-Sets#scribd