Using the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom Continuum

Assignment:

Have you ever gone online to search for a journal article on a specific topic? It is amazing to see the large number of journals that are available in the health care field. When you view the library in its entirety, you are viewing untapped data. Until you actually research for your particular topic, there is little structure. Once you have narrowed it down, you have information and once you apply the information, you have knowledge. Eventually, after thoughtful research and diligent practice, you reach the level of wisdom—knowledge applied in meaningful ways.

Are there areas in your practice that you believe should be more fully explored? The central aims of nursing informatics are to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. This continuum represents the overarching structure of nursing informatics. In this Assignment, you develop a research question relevant to your practice area and relate how you would work through the progression from data to information, knowledge, and wisdom.

To prepare:

Review the information in Figure 6–2 in Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge.
Develop a clinical question related to your area of practice that you would like to explore.
Consider what you currently know about this topic. What additional information would you need to answer the question?
Using the continuum of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, determine how you would go about researching your question.
- Explore the available databases in the Walden Library. Identify which of these databases you would use to find the information or data you need.
- Once you have identified useful databases, how would you go about finding the most relevant articles and information?
- Consider how you would extract the relevant information from the articles.
- How would you take the information and organize it in a way that was useful? How could you take the step from simply having useful knowledge to gaining wisdom?

By Day 7 of Week 4

Write a 4-page paper that addresses the following: MUST BE APA FORMAT

Summarize the question you developed, and then relate how you would work through the four steps of the data, information, knowledge, wisdom continuum. Be specific.
- Identify the databases and search words you would use.
- Relate how you would take the information gleaned and turn it into useable knowledge.
Can informatics be used to gain wisdom? Describe how you would progress from simply having useful knowledge to the wisdom to make decisions about the information you have found during your database search.

Your paper must also include a title page, an introduction, a summary, and a reference page ( YOU CAN ONLY USE THE REFERENCES LISTED BELOW)

American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Springs, MD: Author.

“Metastructures, Concepts, and Tools of Nursing Informatics”

This chapter explores the connections between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom and how they work together in nursing informatics. It also covers the influence that concepts and tools have on the field of nursing.

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Chapter 6, “Overview of Nursing Informatics”

This chapter defines the foundations of nursing informatics (NI). The authors specify the disciplines that are integrated to form nursing informatics, along with major NI concepts.

Brokel, J. (2010). Moving forward with NANDA-I nursing diagnoses with Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act Legislation: News updates. International Journal of Nursing Terminologies & Classifications, 21(4), 182–185.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

In this news brief, the author describes the initiatives that NANDA-I will implement to remain abreast of the HITECH legislation of 2009. The author explains two recommendations for the federal government’s role in managing vocabularies, value sets, and code sets throughout the health care system.

Matney, S., Brewster, P. J., Sward, K. A., Cloyes, K. G., & Staggers, N. (2011). Philosophical approaches to the nursing informatics data-information-knowledge-wisdom framework. Advances in Nursing Science, 34(1), 6–18.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Using the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom Continuum

This article proposes a philosophical foundation for nursing informatics in which data, information, and knowledge can be synthesized by computer systems to support wisdom development. The authors describe how wisdom can add value to nursing informatics and to the nursing profession as a whole.

Rutherford, M. A. (2008). Standardized nursing language: What does it mean for nursing practice? OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 13(1). Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/vol132008/No1Jan08/ArticlePreviousTopic/StandardizedNursingLanguage.html

The author of this article provides justification for the use of a standardized nursing language, which will be necessary for incorporating electronic documentation into the health care field. The author defines standardized language in nursing, describes how such a language can be applied in a practice setting, and discusses the benefits of using a standardized language.

Westra, B. L., Subramanian, A., Hart, C. M., Matney, S. A., Wilson, P. S., Huff, S. M., … Delaney, C. W. (2010). Achieving “meaningful use” of electronic health records through the integration of the Nursing Management Minimum Data Set. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 40(7–8), 336–343.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This article explains the nursing management minimum data set (NMMDS), which is a research-based minimum set of standard data for nursing management and administration. The article describes how the NMMDS can be used to minimize the burden on health care administrators and increase the value of electronic health records within the health care system.

MORE INFO

Using the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom Continuum

Introduction

If you’re like me, you probably know that the data/information/knowledge continuum is a way to organize information into different levels. It’s a useful tool for understanding how we acquire and use knowledge, as well as when it’s appropriate to make decisions based on our knowledge or intuition (or both). The three categories of this continuum are called: data (raw), information (organized), and wisdom (deep understanding).

Data is raw information.

Data is raw information.
It’s a collection of facts and figures, which can be used to make decisions.
Data can be collected and analyzed, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to do this in order for your business or organization to benefit from it (though it might).

Information is data that has been (somewhat) organized, formatted, or presented so that it’s meaningful.

Information is data that has been (somewhat) organized, formatted, or presented so that it’s meaningful. This can include charts and graphs as well as text. Information allows us to make decisions about the future based on past experiences or actions.

The first step toward using this knowledge continuum is to understand what information actually is:

A subset of data (knowledge).
Data that has been (somewhat) organized, formatted, or presented so that it’s meaningful.*

Knowledge is a set of facts, skills, and procedural patterns that we have developed through experience or education.

In your life: The things you know about healthy eating and exercise are based on what you have learned from friends, family members and teachers who have done it for years. This knowledge can be applied to solve problems in many different ways: For example, if you’re trying to lose weight then eating more vegetables will help reduce your calorie intake while still providing all of the nutrients needed by your body.

In your work: You might be able to use some knowledge from previous projects as well as new information from this one (elevator design/construction) in order to create something better than anything else out there right now!

Wisdom is a deep understanding of our place in the world and how things work

Wisdom is a deep understanding of our place in the world and how things work. Wisdom is gained through experience and education, but it’s not easily learned or taught. It’s a form of knowledge that has been passed down through generations, but it can also be lost if we don’t keep up with it ourselves.

Wisdom comes from learning from failures as well as successes, understanding what makes us happy or sad, knowing when something isn’t working for us anymore (and why), being able to recognize patterns within yourself or others that make you uncomfortable—the list goes on!

D/I/K/W

Data is raw information. It’s the stuff you get when you ask a question, or make a statement like “I have been in my current job for three years” or “I am willing to give up some of my free time for a project that I believe in.”

Information is data that has been (somewhat) organized, formatted, or presented so that it’s meaningful. Information can also be represented in different ways such as charts and graphs; however these forms are not necessarily valuable themselves because they do not provide insight into how things work together within an organization or community. Information should always be analyzed before being used as knowledge by decision makers who need to make decisions based on facts rather than assumptions or recommendations from others within their organization/community (i.e., “I think this product would be useful for us because…”).

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve looked at how to make use of the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom continuum to improve your data science projects. We’ve seen how the different pillars of data science can help you focus on different types of knowledge that will benefit your project in different ways—for example, by giving you more insight into your data or making it easier for you to communicate with others about their findings. And finally we’ve explored some other ways in which these concepts might be useful when working with other people on a project: helping them understand what’s going on inside your head while they’re working on theirs; helping them work together effectively as a team; and even developing new ideas together!

Nursing Worker

Using the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom Continuum