Sharable and Comparable Data for Nursing Management

Nurse leaders and researchers are challenged by the need for sharable and comparable data on the nursing workforce and the processes of patient care. This is significant, as nursing is the largest health care workforce, with significant operational costs. The Nursing Management Minimum Data Set provides a core set of data elements to compare nursing practice across time, diverse health care settings, and geographical areas. Nursing leaders from practice, association, academic, consulting, and industry settings were interviewed to provide perspectives on how the use of standardized data sets can be useful for the profession.