Among the Resources in this module is the Rutherford (2008) article Standardized Nursing Language: What Does It Mean for Nursing Practice? In this article, the author recounts a visit to a local hospital to view the recent implementation of a new coding system.

During the visit, one of the nurses commented to her, “We document our care using standardized nursing languages but we don’t fully understand why we do” (Rutherford, 2008, para. 1).

How would you respond to a comment such as this one?

To Prepare:

• Review the concepts of informatics as presented in the Resources, particularly Rutherford, M. (2008) Standardized Nursing Language: What Does It Mean for Nursing Practice?
• Reflect on the role of a nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
• Consider how knowledge may be informed by data that is collected/accessed.

 

The Assignment:

In a 2- to 3-page paper, address the following:

• Explain how you would inform this nurse (and others) of the importance of standardized nursing terminologies.
• Describe the benefits and challenges of implementing standardized nursing terminologies in nursing practice. Be specific and provide examples.
• Be sure to support your paper with peer-reviewed research on standardized nursing terminologies that you consulted from the Walden Library. The Impact of Standardized Nursing Terminology Assignment

 

ADDITIONAL DETAILS 

The Impact of Standardized Nursing Terminology

Introduction

The world of nursing is evolving rapidly, and one of the biggest changes is the adoption of standardized terminology. This has implications for patient safety, as it allows nurses to communicate more effectively with each other across different hospitals and states. It also helps improve efficiency by reducing errors in diagnosis and treatment; increases efficiencies in communication; allows more effective use of electronic health records; and increases data accuracy, consistency, and completeness among all healthcare providers working together on complex cases.

Improve patient safety.

Standardized terminology is used to avoid confusion, which can lead to errors. In addition, standardized terminology helps identify and correct errors in a timely manner.

Standardized nursing terms help improve patient safety because they allow nurses to communicate more effectively with each other and with their patients. This will help ensure that all involved parties are on the same page when it comes to understanding what needs to be done during an emergency situation, such as delivering medication or performing procedures like wound care or CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Reduce errors in diagnosis and treatment.

• The use of standardized nursing terminology can help reduce the risk of medical errors.

• It also helps avoid communication errors between patients and nurses, which may lead to misdiagnosis or poor treatment outcomes.

Increase efficiencies in communication.

In a study conducted by the University of Chicago, it was found that standardized nursing terminology reduced the need for clarification. This means that health care providers can focus on the patient and not their own language barrier. They also spend less time communicating with patients, which allows them to spend more time with them during their visit. A better understanding of what a patient needs will lead to fewer miscommunications and decreased risk of error.

Allow more effective use of electronic health records.

Electronic health records (EHRs) are a critical part of modern healthcare. They allow for more effective use of standardized nursing terminology and can facilitate the use of standardized nursing terminology in electronic health documentation.

In addition, EHRs can help improve data accuracy, consistency, completeness and timeliness by allowing clinical decision support systems to access patient information directly from the EHR rather than having it transferred between systems via paper based forms or faxes.

Increase data accuracy, consistency, and completeness.

Standardized nursing terminology is a way to ensure data accuracy, consistency and completeness. It helps reduce errors in diagnosis and treatment by providing a common language for all nurses. The use of standardized nursing terminology will also increase efficiencies in communication between nurses, as well as between caregivers and patients.

Promote evidence-based practice.

Standardized terminology is a powerful tool for promoting evidence-based practice. It allows nurses to make informed decisions about the care of patients and are able to use these decisions in an effort to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs and improve efficiency. The use of standardized nursing terminology has been shown to increase patient safety, while also reducing errors due to miscommunication between nurses or misunderstandings between doctors/nurses.

Standardized nursing terminology has a huge potential to improve health care

Standardized nursing terminology is a way to standardize language. It’s a way to improve communication, patient safety and data accuracy, consistency and completeness.

Nursing terminology has been around since the beginning of time—it’s just that until recently it wasn’t standardized. In fact, there was no such thing as “the nursing profession” or “nursing practice.” Nowadays we have thousands of terms for things like “bleeding” or “suturing” that have their own unique meanings in different regions across the country; but these terms don’t always match up with one another because they were created by different groups at different times (or even within individual hospitals). If you work in multiple states where these differences exist then you’ll find yourself having conversations over and over again about what exactly each term means when used in context – which can lead towards frustration on both sides!

Conclusion

Overall, the future is bright for standardized nursing terminology. It has the potential to improve patient safety through greater consistency in diagnosis and treatment, increase efficiencies in communication, and promote evidence-based practice. In the future, people may be able to use their smartphones or tablets for nursing care instead of traditional paper medical records.