Exploring the Stability of Communication Network Metrics in a Dynamic Nursing Context.

Network stability is of increasing interest to researchers as they try to understand the dynamic processes by which social networks form and evolve. Because hospital patient care units (PCUs) need flexibility to adapt to environmental changes (Vardaman, Cornell, & Clancy, 2012), their networks are unlikely to be uniformly stable and will evolve over time. This study aimed to identify a metric (or set of metrics) sufficiently stable to apply to PCU staff information sharing and advice seeking communication networks over time. Using Coefficient of Variation, we assessed both Across Time Stability (ATS) and Global Stability over four data collection times (Baseline and 1, 4, and 7 months later). When metrics were stable using both methods, we considered them "super stable." Nine metrics met that criterion (Node Set Size, Average Distance, Clustering Coefficient, Density, Weighted Density, Diffusion, Total Degree Centrality, Betweenness Centrality, and Eigenvector Centrality). Unstable metrics included Hierarchy, Fragmentation, Isolate Count, and Clique Count. We also examined the effect of staff members' confidence in the information obtained from other staff members. When confidence was high, the "super stable" metrics remained "super stable," but when low, none of the "super stable" metrics persisted as "super stable." Our results suggest that nursing units represent what Barker (1968) termed dynamic behavior settings in which, as is typical, multiple nursing staff must constantly adjust to various circumstances, primarily through communication (e.g., discussing patient care or requesting advice on providing patient care), to preserve the functional integrity (i.e., ability to meet patient care goals) of the units, thus producing the observed stability over time of nine network metrics. The observed metric stability provides support for using network analysis to study communication patterns in dynamic behavior settings such as PCUs.

Exploring Online RN-to-BSN Student Perceptions of Learner Presence.

AIM: The aim of this study was to describe how RN-to-BSN student and program-specific characteristics influence student perceptions of learner presence (LP) in the online learning environment. BACKGROUND: Online RN-to-BSN students represent a diverse group of practicing nurses who must balance multiple obligations and challenging learner requirements. LP represents the student's perceptions of being close to and interacting with faculty and peers within the online learning environment. METHOD: A descriptive, exploratory design was used to examine the relationship between participant perceptions of LP and student and program characteristics. RESULTS: Findings describe student and program characteristics and perceptions of LP. Significant findings revealed that more collaborative assignments were associated with higher perceptions of LP; individual assignments resulted in lower perceptions. CONCLUSION: This study may enhance faculty understanding of this population of students and the extent to which course activities impact students' communication and collaboration to meet online learner requirements.

Relationship of Staff Information Sharing and Advice Networks to Patient Safety Outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare information sharing and advice networks' relationships with patient safety outcomes. BACKGROUND: Communication contributes to medical errors, but rarely is it clear what elements of communication are key. METHODS: We investigated relationships of information-sharing and advice networks to patient safety outcomes in 24 patient care units from 3 hospitals over 7 months. Web-based questionnaires completed via Android tablets provided data to create 2 networks using ORA, a social network analysis application. Each hospital provided nurse-sensitive patient safety outcomes. RESULTS: In both networks, medication errors correlated positively with node count and average distance and negatively with clustering coefficient. Density and weighted density negatively correlated with medication errors and falls in both networks. Eigenvector and total degree centrality correlated negatively with both safety outcomes, whereas betweenness centrality positively related to falls in the information-sharing network. CONCLUSION: Technology-enabled social network analysis data collection is feasible and can provide managers actionable system-level information.

"I want to know everything": a qualitative study of perspectives from patients with chronic diseases on sharing health information during hospitalization.

BACKGROUND: Patient-centered care promotes the inclusion of the most prominent and important member of the health care team, the patient, as an active participant in information exchange and decision making. Patient self-management of a chronic disease requires the patient to bridge the gap between multiple care settings and providers. Hospitalizations often disrupt established self-management routines. Access to medical information during hospitalization reflects patients' rights to partner in their own care and has the potential to improve self-management as well as promote informed decision making during and after hospitalization. The objectives of this study were to elicit the perspectives of patients with chronic disease about desired medical information content and access during hospitalization. METHODS: This exploratory study incorporated a qualitative approach. The online survey included the research team created open and limited response survey, demographic and hospital characteristic questions, and the Patient Activation Measurement instrument (PAM®). Convenience and social media snowball sampling were used to recruit participants through patient support groups, email invitations, listservs, and blogs. The research team employed descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis techniques. RESULTS: The study sample (n = 34) ranged in age from 20 to 76 (µ = 48; SD = 16.87), Caucasian (91%, n = 31), female (88%, n = 30) and very highly educated (64%, n = 22 were college graduates). The PAM® survey revealed a highly activated sample. Qualitative analysis of the open-ended question responses resulted in six themes: Caring for myself; I want to know everything; Include me during handoff and rounds; What I expect; You're not listening; and Tracking my health information. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that hospitalized patients want to be included in provider discussions, such as nursing bedside handoff and medical rounds. Only a few participants had smooth transitions from hospital to home. Participants expressed frustration with failures in communication among their providers during and after hospitalization and provider behaviors that interfered with patient provider communication processes. Patients also identified interest in maintaining their own health histories and information but most had to "cobble together" a myriad of methods to keep track of their evolving condition during hospitalization.

Perception of Nursing Education Uses of Second Life by Graduate Nursing Students.

Although virtual reality platforms, such as Second Life, have been used in academic settings for more than a decade, little is known about how students perceive or adapt to this technology. This article presents the results of a research study that examined the experiences and perceptions of graduate nursing students as they explored the educational applications of Second Life. The students created avatars, interacted with one another in the virtual world, explored healthcare and educational uses, and maintained a reflective blog (online journal) of their experiences. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze the reflective blogs, and four themes were identified: (1) mastering Second Life, (2) technological challenges, (3) social interaction, and (4) knowledge dissemination. The results support the use of virtual reality in education, as even novice graduate students were able to overcome initial challenges and learn to navigate within a virtual world.

Defining and Scoping Participatory Health Informatics: An eDelphi Study.

BACKGROUND: Health care has evolved to support the involvement of individuals in decision making by, for example, using mobile apps and wearables that may help empower people to actively participate in their treatment and health monitoring. While the term "participatory health informatics" (PHI) has emerged in literature to describe these activities, along with the use of social media for health purposes, the scope of the research field of PHI is not yet well defined. OBJECTIVE: This article proposes a preliminary definition of PHI and defines the scope of the field. METHODS: We used an adapted Delphi study design to gain consensus from participants on a definition developed from a previous review of literature. From the literature we derived a set of attributes describing PHI as comprising 18 characteristics, 14 aims, and 4 relations. We invited researchers, health professionals, and health informaticians to score these characteristics and aims of PHI and their relations to other fields over three survey rounds. In the first round participants were able to offer additional attributes for voting. RESULTS: The first round had 44 participants, with 28 participants participating in all three rounds. These 28 participants were gender-balanced and comprised participants from industry, academia, and health sectors from all continents. Consensus was reached on 16 characteristics, 9 aims, and 6 related fields. DISCUSSION: The consensus reached on attributes of PHI describe PHI as a multidisciplinary field that uses information technology and delivers tools with a focus on individual-centered care. It studies various effects of the use of such tools and technology. Its aims address the individuals in the role of patients, but also the health of a society as a whole. There are relationships to the fields of health informatics, digital health, medical informatics, and consumer health informatics. CONCLUSION: We have proposed a preliminary definition, aims, and relationships of PHI based on literature and expert consensus. These can begin to be used to support development of research priorities and outcomes measurements.

Social networks as embedded complex adaptive systems.

As systems evolve over time, their natural tendency is to become increasingly more complex. Studies in the field of complex systems have generated new perspectives on management in social organizations such as hospitals. Much of this research appears as a natural extension of the cross-disciplinary field of systems theory. This is the 15th in a series of articles applying complex systems science to the traditional management concepts of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. In this article, the authors discuss healthcare social networks as a hierarchy of embedded complex adaptive systems. The authors further examine the use of social network analysis tools as a means to understand complex communication patterns and reduce medical errors.

The Influence of Bullying on Nursing Practice Errors: A Systematic Review.

Workplace bullying is an important nursing issue that can influence a nurse's propensity to commit practice errors. This systematic review examines the influence of bullying behaviors on nursing practice errors and includes articles from 2012 to 2017 that focus on bullying among nurses in multiple health care settings, including ORs, emergency departments, and acute inpatient and critical-care units. Analysis of 14 relevant articles revealed four themes: the influence of the work environment on nursing practice errors, individual-level connections between bullying and nursing practice errors, barriers to teamwork, and communication impairment. This review indicates that nurses perceive that bullying influences nursing practice errors and patient outcomes, although the mechanisms are unclear. Additional research is needed to elucidate the effects of bullying on nursing practice errors and patient outcomes.

Spanish-Speaking Hispanic Patients' Information-Sharing Preferences During Hospitalization: An Exploratory Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Self-management of chronic conditions, such as cancer or diabetes, requires the coordination of care across multiple care settings. Current patient-centered, hospital-based care initiatives, including bedside nursing handoff and multidisciplinary rounds, often focus on provider information exchange and roles but fall short of the goals of participatory medicine, which recognize the right of patients to partner in their own care and play an active role in self-management. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to elicit Spanish-speaking Hispanic patients' perspectives on the exchange and sharing of information during hospitalization. METHODS: This exploratory pilot study incorporated a qualitative descriptive approach by using Spanish language focus groups, posthospitalization, to determine patient-identified information needs during hospitalization. RESULTS: Participants preferred paper-based Spanish language medical information. Doctors and nurses were key information providers and communicated with participants verbally, usually with the assistance of a translator. Participants expressed a desire to be informed about medication and treatments, including side effects and why there were changes in medication during hospitalization. In addition, they expressed interest in knowing about the progress of their condition and when they could expect to go home. Emotional readiness to receive information about their condition and prognosis was identified as an individual barrier to asking questions and seeking additional information about their condition(s). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, participants shared positive experiences with providers during hospitalization and the usefulness of self-care instructions. Language was not recognized as a barrier by any of the participants. Nevertheless, future research on the influence of emotional readiness on the timing of medical information is needed.

Nursing Unit Communication During a US Public Health Emergency: Natural Experiment.

BACKGROUND: In the second half of 2014, the first case of Ebola virus disease (EVD) was diagnosed in the United States. During this time period, we were collecting data for the Measuring Network Stability and Fit (NetFIT) longitudinal study, which used social network analysis (SNA) to study relationships between nursing staff communication patterns and patient outcomes. One of the data collection sites was a few blocks away from where the initial EVD diagnosis was made. The EVD public health emergency during the NetFIT data collection time period resulted in the occurrence of a natural experiment. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of the NetFIT study were to examine the structure of nursing unit decision-making and information-sharing networks, identify a parsimonious set of network metrics that can be used to measure the longitudinal stability of these networks, examine the relationship between the contextual features of a unit and network metrics, and identify relationships between key network measures and nursing-sensitive patient-safety and quality outcomes. This paper reports on unit communication and outcome changes that occurred during the EVD natural disaster time period on the 10 hospital units that had data collected before, during, and after the crisis period. METHODS: For the NetFIT study, data were collected from nursing staff working on 25 patient care units, in three hospitals, and at four data collection points over a 7-month period: Baseline, Month 1, Month 4, and Month 7. Data collection was staggered by hospital and unit. To evaluate the influence of this public health emergency on nursing unit outcomes and communication characteristics, this paper focuses on a subsample of 10 units from two hospitals where data were collected before, during, and after the EVD crisis period. No data were collected from Hospital B during the crisis period. Network data from individual staff were aggregated to the nursing unit level to create 24-hour networks and three unit-level safety outcome measures-fall rate, medication errors, and hospital-acquired pressure ulcers-were collected. RESULTS: This analysis includes 40 data collection points and 608 staff members who completed questionnaires. Participants (N=608) included registered nurses (431, 70.9%), licensed vocational nurses (3, 0.5%), patient care technicians (133, 21.9%), unit clerks (28, 4.6%), and monitor watchers (13, 2.1%). Changes in SNA metrics associated with communication (ie, average distance, diffusion, and density) were noted in units that had changes in patient safety outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: Units in the hospital site in the same city as the EVD case exhibited multiple changes in patient outcomes, network communication metrics, and response rates. Future research using SNA to examine the influence of public health emergencies on hospital communication networks and relationships to patient outcomes is warranted.

Nursing Unit Design, Nursing Staff Communication Networks, and Patient Falls: Are They Related?

PURPOSE:: The purpose of this research is to (1) investigate the impact of nursing unit design on nursing staff communication patterns and, ultimately, on patient falls in acute care nursing units; and (2) evaluate whether differences in fall rates, if found, were associated with the nursing unit physical structure (shape) or size. BACKGROUND:: Nursing staff communication and nursing unit design are frequently linked to patient safety outcomes, yet little is known about the impact of specific nursing unit designs on nursing communication patterns that might affect patient falls. METHOD:: An exploratory longitudinal correlational design was used to measure nursing unit communication structures using social network analysis techniques. Data were collected 4 times over a 7-month period. Floor plans were used to determine nursing unit design. Fall rates were provided by hospital coordinators. RESULTS:: An analysis of covariance controlling for hospitals resulted in a statistically significant interaction of unit shape and size (number of beds). The interaction occurred when medium- and large-sized racetrack-shaped units intersected with medium- and large-sized cross-shaped units. CONCLUSION:: The results suggest that nursing unit design shape impacts nursing communication patterns, and the interaction of shape and size may impact patient falls. How those communication patterns affect patient falls should be considered when planning hospital construction of nursing care units.

An informatics research agenda to support precision medicine: seven key areas.

The recent announcement of the Precision Medicine Initiative by President Obama has brought precision medicine (PM) to the forefront for healthcare providers, researchers, regulators, innovators, and funders alike. As technologies continue to evolve and datasets grow in magnitude, a strong computational infrastructure will be essential to realize PM's vision of improved healthcare derived from personal data. In addition, informatics research and innovation affords a tremendous opportunity to drive the science underlying PM. The informatics community must lead the development of technologies and methodologies that will increase the discovery and application of biomedical knowledge through close collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and patients. This perspective highlights seven key areas that are in need of further informatics research and innovation to support the realization of PM.

Promoting communication and documentation of advance care planning in long-term care facilities.

This paper describes the findings of Phase I of an advance care planning (ACP) demonstration project, undertaken collaboratively between the Texas Partnership on End-of-Life Care and the North Texas Alliance of Nursing Homes. The goal of the project, designed as a continuous quality improvement program for the nine volunteer nursing facilities (NFs), was to increase the systematic implementation of ACP Phase I consisted of baseline data collection of ACP documentation from the nine NFs. This was followed by a pre-intervention train-the-trainer educational program for facility coordinators and other interested staff who subsequently would implement the procedures in their NFs, to increase the use of advance directives (ADs). Following the Phase II implementation, a model will be developed for replication in other Texas facilities. Reported here are the pre-intervention baseline chart review findings documenting ACP and various AD documents. Based on the experience of this chart review, recommendations are outlined for improving the quality of ACP communication and documentation.

Multi-professional patterns and methods of communication during patient handoffs.

OBJECTIVE: Health information technology has been shown to influence the communication patterns of healthcare providers. The goal of this study was to learn more about how healthcare providers communicate and exchange patient clinical information during patient handoffs (transfers) between units in an acute care setting. METHODS: Convenience sampling was used to select five patient handoffs. Questionnaires were distributed to providers identified through observation and snowball sampling. Social network analysis methodology was used to develop sociograms of the emergent communication patterns and identify the role of individual providers in the handoff process based on the number of contacts with other providers and incoming and outgoing communication activity. Individual handoff network size ranged from 11 to 20 providers. Participants were asked to describe the method of communication they used to access or share clinical information with other providers, their preferred method of communication; their satisfaction with the available options; and their suggestions for how the process could be improved. RESULTS: The network patterns that emerged uncovered the overlapping use of synchronous and asynchronous communication methods (verbally via phone or in person; or written via paper charts and/or an electronic records). No particular professional group dominated or coordinated information flow; instead each handoff network exhibited unique communication patterns and information coordination by two or more influential providers from nursing, medicine, or pharmacy. Most (84%) participants preferred verbal communication. Overall satisfaction with the current communication process varied by unit: 82% of emergency department providers and 54% of the providers working in the admitting units stated they were satisfied or very satisfied. Recommendations for improvement included converting all units to the electronic health record, electronic handoff communication modules and asynchronous multi-professional communication logs. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this exploratory study provide a foundation for future research examining how network structure and communication principles can be used to design health information technology that compliments the non-linear information gathering and dissemination behaviors of providers from multiple professions.

Multi-professional communication during a patient handoff.

Little is known about the communication principles necessary for successful design and implementation of information technology that supports the needs of healthcare providers from multiple professions. New methods are needed to understand the influence of technology on existing workflow and communication patterns in the complex patient care environment. Social Network Analysis is an approach that examines how the interactions between individual providers and environmental constraints, such as health information technology, influence individual communication behavior.

Factors associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw among bisphosphonate users.

BACKGROUND: Bisphosphonates are medications that impact bone reformation by inhibiting osteoclast function. Osteonecrosis of the jaw has been reported among patients receiving these medications. It is unclear if the risk factors associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw among cancer patients taking bisphosphonates also are possible risk factors among patients receiving these medications for other indications. METHODS: A systematic review search strategy was used to identify cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw among patients taking bisphosphonates for an indication other than cancer to identify potential contributing factors. Data were analyzed according to previous models to develop a more expanded model that may explain possible mechanisms for the development of osteonecrosis of the jaw among patients without cancer. RESULTS: Ninety-nine cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw were identified among patients who were prescribed a bisphosphonate for an indication other than cancer. These cases included 85 osteoporosis patients, 10 patients with Paget's disease, 2 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 1 patient with diabetes, and 1 patient with maxillary fibrous dysplasia. The mean age was 69.4 years, 87.3% were female, and 83.3% were receiving oral, but not intravenous, bisphosphonates. Of the 63 patients reporting dental care information, 88.9% had a dental procedure before the onset of osteonecrosis of the jaw. Of all cases providing medical information, 71% were taking at least one medication that affects bone turnover in addition to the bisphosphonate, and 81.3% reported additional underlying health conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The case details suggest a multiplicity of factors associated with this condition and provide the foundation for a model outlining the potential mechanism for the development of osteonecrosis of the jaw among patients taking bisphosphonates for an indication other than cancer.