Mapping Out Point-of-Care Review Screens for Omaha System Data

Omaha System data are text data that consist of standardized terminology and customized descriptions. The customized descriptions related to patient care reveal changes in a client's status over time. These data help public health nurses to understand the patient's progress and to plan future care. However, most electronic health records do not provide clinicians with efficient displays of stored text data. The purpose of this study is to develop point-of-care review screens for Omaha System data on an individual patient level and examine nurse perceptions of the usefulness of the displayed data in improving patient care. Individual patients' data were organized on a Web-based overview page to present all of the health problems that a client had and on detailed pages to present all records of Omaha System data regarding each health problem. Nurse survey results indicated the usefulness of at-a-glance displays of text data on patient care and nurses' decision making. The meaningful review of patient data using a health information system supports patient-data-driven, evidence-based practice and decision making.