A nursing information model process for interoperability.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Health Information Exchange
• Quality Improvement Science

Background:

• Sharing nursing data across organizations and electronic health records (EHRs) is vital for care coordination and quality outcomes.
• Significant organizational and technical barriers currently hinder the sharing and comparison of essential patient data for nursing care.
• Nursing leaders from Kaiser Permanente and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognized the need for improved data interoperability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an evidence-based information model driven by nursing practice to facilitate nursing data capture, reuse, and sharing across disparate EHR systems.
• To describe a framework with repeatable steps and processes for achieving semantic interoperability of nursing data.
• To test the model using hospital-acquired pressure ulcer prevention as a prototype nurse-sensitive quality measure.

Main Methods:

• Collaboration between nursing leaders from Kaiser Permanente and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Development of a common information model based on nursing practice.
• Implementation of the model within mobile applications in a Health 2.0 Developer Challenge program.
• Testing the model for hospital-acquired pressure ulcer risk assessment and severity reduction.

Main Results:

• A framework and repeatable processes were established to enable semantic interoperability of nursing data.
• Mobile applications utilizing the model successfully assisted nurses in assessing hospital-acquired pressure ulcer risk.
• The model demonstrated potential in reducing the severity of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers.

Conclusions:

• The developed common information model effectively addresses barriers to nursing data sharing and interoperability.
• The model can be applied to various nurse-sensitive quality measures, promoting data standardization.
• Standardized nursing data supports seamless patient transitions, enhances quality reporting, and facilitates research.