Module 4 Question 2

This is a difficult question, so, I am going to give two different spins off of how I perceive this question. One, several years back I worked for an intensive care unit that introduced an insulin drip protocol. This protocol was very aggressive and many of the nurse clinicians, including myself, struggled with compliance with the insulin protocol. The aggressive protocol continued to treat glucose levels with a continuous drip when glucose levels fell into the 60-70’s. As an experience clinician, I was highly critical of the suggested instruction by the protocol to continue the insulin drip, because of, “Redundant input variables,” from previous experience. I had a high probability of being right, knowing that before the next glucose check, my glucose would drop into the 40’s and 50’s, instigating the hypoglycemic protocol. I sought to thwart this negative experience of shutting off the insulin drip, pushing Dextrose 50, and starting a new cycle. This protocol data was evidence based, but lacked the consistency of providing accurate and intuitive guidelines to increase patient outcome. I found that by using the protocol I felt more at risk for negative outcomes than if I used the statistically wrong self probability scale based on past experience and current knowledge base. In this case, although there was intense ongoing research, the nursing data did not support accurate and consistent clinical decision support.

Second spin, computer based charting, medication administration, and information retrieval have greatly decreased medication error given to wrong patient, caught medication allergies to current or newly prescribed medications, provided an ongoing database for past medical history, and promoted consistency in care. These nursing or medical systems decrease the need for practitioners to have information overload, increase likelihood of prescribing the right medicine, treatment, performing the best intervention, and preparing for the best outcomes. However, each institution, clinic, unit, etc. need to evaluate and research how the intended nursing data will improve or relate to the decision made in that specialty. Not all data is universal, understanding the drawbacks, constraints, and ability to override guidelines are imperative to increasing the success, compliance, and attitude toward using informational technologies to guide decisions. The quality of the product has to be shown by the results, compliance, and success of the users, using the data.