Wk 1discussion: The Application Of Data To Problem-Solving

The Application of Data to Problem-SolvingUse of data has become highly important in the nursing field. Moreover, the nursing sector continues to evolve in relation to the use of data and technology in providing care to patients (Sweeney, 2017). Today, there is a surge in demand for informatics nurses largely due to the increase in need for efficient management of data and involvement of technical systems. Additional factors that have contributed to the need for informatics nurses are increase in health care expenditure, emergence of personalized or customized care, and genomics among others (Nagle, Sermeus, & Junger, 2017). In my hospital experience, one of the major problems that nurses face is patient identification especially during emergencies. In many emergency cases where patients are unable to talk or lack identification documents, the nurses face a difficult task in retrieving their electronic health records (EHRs). Therefore, nurses are forced to procure new tests to identify patient’s blood group, allergies, underlying medical conditions and many other patient information. However, if hospital can have patient biometric data, the nurses would easily identify a patient and retrieve his or her medical records. The biometric data are personal data that are results from person’s physical