Now Is the Time to Strengthen Government-Academic Data Infrastructures to Jump-Start Future Public Health Crisis Response.

During public health crises, the significance of rapid data sharing cannot be overstated. In attempts to accelerate COVID-19 pandemic responses, discussions within society and scholarly research have focused on data sharing among health care providers, across government departments at different levels, and on an international scale. A lesser-addressed yet equally important approach to sharing data during the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises involves cross-sector collaboration between government entities and academic researchers. Specifically, this refers to dedicated projects in which a government entity shares public health data with an academic research team for data analysis to receive data insights to inform policy. In this viewpoint, we identify and outline documented data sharing challenges in the context of COVID-19 and other public health crises, as well as broader crisis scenarios encompassing natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. We then argue that government-academic data collaborations have the potential to alleviate these challenges, which should place them at the forefront of future research attention. In particular, for researchers, data collaborations with government entities should be considered part of the social infrastructure that bolsters their research efforts toward public health crisis response. Looking ahead, we propose a shift from ad hoc, intermittent collaborations to cultivating robust and enduring partnerships. Thus, we need to move beyond viewing government-academic data interactions as 1-time sharing events. Additionally, given the scarcity of scholarly exploration in this domain, we advocate for further investigation into the real-world practices and experiences related to sharing data from government sources with researchers during public health crises.

Challenges to nurses' efforts of retrieving, documenting, and communicating patient care information.

OBJECTIVE: To examine information flow, a vital component of a patient's care and outcomes, in a sample of multiple hospital nursing units to uncover potential sources of error and opportunities for systematic improvement. DESIGN: This was a qualitative study of a sample of eight medical-surgical nursing units from four diverse hospitals in one US state. We conducted direct work observations of nursing staff's communication patterns for entire shifts (8 or 12 h) for a total of 200 h and gathered related documentation artifacts for analyses. Data were coded using qualitative content analysis procedures and then synthesized and organized thematically to characterize current practices. RESULTS: Three major themes emerged from the analyses, which represent serious vulnerabilities in the flow of patient care information during nurse hand-offs and to the entire interdisciplinary team across time and settings. The three themes are: (1) variation in nurse documentation and communication; (2) the absence of a centralized care overview in the patient's electronic health record, ie, easily accessible by the entire care team; and (3) rarity of interdisciplinary communication. CONCLUSION: The care information flow vulnerabilities are a catalyst for multiple types of serious and undetectable clinical errors. We have two major recommendations to address the gaps: (1) to standardize the format, content, and words used to document core information, such as the plan of care, and make this easily accessible to all team members; (2) to conduct extensive usability testing to ensure that tools in the electronic health record help the disconnected interdisciplinary team members to maintain a shared understanding of the patient's plan.

Maintaining a consistent big picture: meaningful use of a Web-based POC EHR system.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that Hands-on Automated Nursing Data System (HANDS) "big picture summary" can be implemented uniformly across diverse settings, and result in positive registered nurse (RN) and plan of care (POC) data outcomes across time. DESIGN: In a longitudinal, multisite, full test study, a representative convenience sample of eight medical-surgical units from four hospitals (one university, two large community, and one small community) in one Midwestern state implemented the HANDS intervention for 24 (four units) or 12 (four units) months. MEASUREMENTS: (a) RN outcomes-percentage completing training, satisfaction with standardized terminologies, perception of HANDS usefulness, POC submission compliance rate. (b) POC data outcomes-validity (rate of optional changes/episode); reliability of terms and ratings; and volume of standardized data generated. RESULTS: One hundred percent of the RNs who worked on the eight study units successfully completed the required standardized training; all units selected participated for the entire 12- or 24-month designated period; compliance rates for POC entry at every patient hand-off were 78-92%; reliability coefficients for use of the standardized terms and ratings were moderately strong; the pattern of optional POC changes per episode declined but remained reasonable across time; and the nurses generated a database of 40,747 episodes of care. LIMITATIONS: Only RNs and medical-surgical units participated. CONCLUSION: It is possible to effectively standardize the capture and visualization of useful "big picture" healthcare information across diverse settings. Findings offer a viable alternative to the current practice of introducing new health information layers that ultimately increase the complexity and inconsistency of information for frontline users.

HANDS: A revitalized technology supported care planning method to improve nursing handoffs.

Care plans are required by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Each day nurses create and file these plans in medical records. However, current forms of care plans do little to either enhance the flow of information or communicate shared patient goals. This paper introduces the theoretical model underpinning the HANDS care planning method and presents findings on the first year of a 3-year multisite study in which this method and a new Health Information Technology (HIT) application supporting the process were introduced. The theoretical model is derived from research on high reliability organizations and encompasses collective mind, mindfulness, and heedful interrelating. It focuses on the handoff as a focal point for not only information transfer but also reinforcing shared meaning and goals. The specific application, HANDS, integrates the NANDA, NIC, and NOC terminologies as a means of ensuring shared meaning across shifts and units. Early findings show the method has the potential of revolutionizing nursing practice.

Promoting safe nursing care by bringing visibility to the disciplinary aspects of interdisciplinary care.

The provision of safe and effective interdisciplinary care requires making the unique and interdependent aspects of disciplinary care visible and understandable. Ideally, the electronic health record (EHR) should capture both disciplinary and interdisciplinary care. This paper reports on a "real time" pilot of a technology supported method of documenting, communicating, and tracking the nursing component of the patient's plan of care for eventual integration into EHR. An intensive care unit tested the intervention that included the adoption and use of the NANDA, NOC, and NIC terminologies. Multiple methods were used to evaluate the impact of the care planning method for a 12 month period. We found that the increased visibility of nursing care promoted greater awareness and understanding (collective mind) of care and in turn enhanced continuity. The results of the pilot were used to further refine our theoretical framework and method for the multi-site study currently underway.