The Arcus Experience: Bridging the Data Science Gap for Nurse Researchers.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Research
• Data Science
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Nurse researchers are increasingly expected to utilize big data from electronic health records (EHR).
• A significant barrier exists due to the current gap in nurses' data science education and training.
• This limits their ability to lead studies on nurse-centric patient outcomes and clinical indicators.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of nurse-led big data research projects in a dedicated computational lab.
• To identify the necessary support structures for research teams with limited big data experience.

Main Methods:

• Four nurse-led teams developed research questions using EHR data.
• Each team received a virtual computational laboratory with raw data.
• Instruction was provided in data science techniques and coding languages (SQL, R).

Main Results:

• Three teams completed studies, with one manuscript under peer review and two in progress.
• The fourth team is currently analyzing their data.
• Five key barriers and five facilitators to big data projects were identified.

Conclusions:

• Organizations must support nurse researchers by bridging the data science education gap.
• Protected research time and a robust data science infrastructure are essential.
• This includes education, mentorship, and computational resources for novice researchers.