Nursing Minimum Data Set development and implementation in Thailand

BACKGROUND: In 1997, the Thai Ministry of Public Health began planning to implement a national health information system. Development of the nursing component of this system is an ongoing process. The first step in developing a nursing information system is to identify an essential Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS). AIM: To describe the development of a NMDS in Thailand and explore the challenges of implementing it, including the issue of the comparability with data sets in other countries, primarily the United States of America. METHODS: The process of developing a NMDS specific to Thailand is reviewed. Strategies for implementing this data set and important issues related to it are then discussed. FINDINGS: Although a preliminary Thai NMDS has been identified, challenges associated with its development and implementation within the Thai National health information system remain. CONCLUSION: A Thai NMDS and its elements have been identified. The International Classification of Nursing Practice was translated and is to be used to implement the data set describing the nursing care of patients and their families. However, many issues, such as the need for conceptual translation and increasing nurses' involvement in the process, still need to be addressed in order to implement the data set successfully.     

Methodological and ethical issues in conducting qualitative research with children and young people: a literature review

BACKGROUND: There is an increasing interest in involving children in research that has been influenced by the recognition of children's rights and by the reconceptualisation of children within the social sciences as active agents rather than as the objects of research. OBJECTIVES: To review the methodological and ethical issues involved in conducting qualitative research with children and to consider the implications for nursing research in light of recent debates within the social sciences. DESIGN: Narrative literature review using a systematic search of computerized databases. DATA SOURCES: Published papers, key texts, reports and policy documents that relate to the methodological and ethical issues in conducting qualitative research with children. RESULTS: There are three ethical issues in relation to conducting research with children: power relations, informed consent and confidentiality. Two key methodological issues are identifiable in relation to conducting research with children. One is epistemological and relates to the different cultures of childhood and adulthood and the second relates to the heterogenous nature of childhood itself. Novel techniques and task-based activities are being increasingly used to establish rapport and as a method of data collection. CONCLUSION: There are both differences and similarities in conducting qualitative research with children and with adults but often the similarities have been overlooked and the differences overstated. Nursing and other health-related researchers conducting research with adults could learn much from children's researchers, particularly in terms of sensitivity to ethical issues. Nursing research need to consider the methodological issues that have been debated in the social sciences and to critically reflect on the use of novel techniques in qualitative research.     

Nurse autonomy,nurse job satisfaction and client satisfaction with nursing care: their place in nursing data sets

Many changes have taken place in the healthcare system that have influenced nurse autonomy, job satisfaction and client satisfaction. Standardized language facilitates communication within the discipline of nursing. Examples of such language include the Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC) and the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) systems as well as the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS), which provides a formal structure for electronic data sets to support nursing care. The Nursing Management Minimum Data Set (NMMDS) was designed to identify variables to guide nurse managers in evaluating the impact of nursing interventions on client outcomes. Gaps within NMDS and NMMDS are discussed, and solutions are proposed.     

Development of the ethical dimension in nursing theory

Nurses encounter ethical dilemmas in their practice and need guidance in making relevant patient-care decisions. Nursing theory is believed to be the best source of such guidance. The aim of this paper is to describe the ethical dimension in nursing theory. A literature review shows the intricate relationship between ethics and nursing, yet there is lack of elaboration of ethical features in nursing theories. The identified elements of the ethical dimension include ethical theories and principles, values, ethical practice issues, moral reasoning and contextual factors. Criteria for the development and evaluation of the ethical dimension are presented, with an example using a middle range theory. The ethical components pertinent to a nursing theory need to be made explicit if theory is to guide practice. Nursing scholars are invited to elucidate the ethical dimension in their theories in order to enhance moral reasoning and provide a framework for ethical practice.     

Shaping the future. The marriage of nursing theory and informatics

The link between nursing theory and computerized nursing information systems is explored. In particular, the use of Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory in the development of an information processing model for use in a computerized nursing information system is described. This development is discussed with reference to the American Nurses' Association design criteria for computerized nursing information systems. There is some indication that the design criteria do not adequately address the relationships among nursing theory, nursing processes, and computerized nursing information systems.     

Advance Directives and Opportunities for Nurses

Technical, social, and economic factors are an impetus for expressing end-of-life decisions as advance directives (ADs) including a living will and durable power of attorney. Despite opportunities, nurses do not appear to be widely involved in practice and research regarding ADs. To provide perspectives for nursing participation, the literature was reviewed, and a set of outcomes regarding ADs were identified. The historical background and the ethical issues associated with ADs are examined. Appropriate roles for nurses with respect to ADs are suggested. Research and practice opportunities are identified. The databases reviewed were the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature from 1983 to January 1996, and MEDLINE, from 1985 to January 1996.     

Nursing students' experiences of ethical issues in clinical practice: A New Zealand study

Nursing students experience ethical problems in clinical practice in a different way from registered nurses. In order to develop ethical reasoning and competence in nursing students, nurse educators must recognise the unique issues students face. This research described the occurrence of ethical issues in clinical practice for 373 undergraduate nursing students who responded to a national questionnaire investigating the frequency of pre-determined ethical issues and the corresponding level of distress. Over two thirds of respondents experienced breaches of a patient's right to confidentiality, privacy, dignity or respect and 87% experienced unsafe working conditions. The most distressing issues were those that compromised patient safety, including unsafe healthcare practices, working conditions and suspected abuse or neglect. Themes that emerged from an open-ended question included lack of support and supervision, bullying and end of life issues. This research found the frequency at which ethical issues are experienced was highest in year three participants. However, the overall distress levels were lower for the majority of issues for those participants in the later part of their degree. Recommendations from this research include developing ethics education around the main concerns that students face in order to enhance students' understanding, resilience and ability to respond appropriately.     

Rural woman abuse and sexually transmitted disease: an ethical analysis of clinical dilemmas

Women who have experienced abuse are often offered individual and group psychotherapeutic interventions to help them overcome psychological aftereffects of abuse and avoid future abusive relationships. Clinical cases that are complicated by the existence of abuse and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) often involve ethical issues concerning patient privacy and legitimate breaches of confidentiality that can potentially harm the individual. There is little known about the experiences of abused rural women with STDs, underscoring the need for modification of existing interventions for this patient population. This paper presents the application of an ethical framework to an actual case involving an abused rural woman with an STD that utilizes the concepts of casuiStry, or case-based reasoning. A methodological tool for ethical analysis of the clinical dilemmas involving evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for abused rural women with STDs is used to apply the concepts of casuistry to the development of the taxonomy of cases for clinical practice.     

RURAL WOMAN ABUSE AND SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF CLINICAL DILEMMAS

Women who have experienced abuse are often offered individual and group psychotherapeutic interventions to help them overcome psychological aftereffects of abuse and avoid future abusive relationships. Clinical cases that are complicated by the existence of abuse and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) often involve ethical issues concerning patient privacy and legitimate breaches of confidentiality that can potentially harm the individual. There is little known about the experiences of abused rural women with STDs, underscoring the need for modification of existing interventions for this patient population. This paper presents the application of an ethical framework to an actual case involving an abused rural woman with an STD that utilizes the concepts of casuistry, or case-based reasoning. A methodological tool for ethical analysis of the clinical dilemmas involving evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for abused rural women with STDs is used to apply the concepts of casuistry to the development of the taxonomy of cases for clinical practice.     

Use of the Nursing Minimum Data Set to Describe Nursing Interventions for Select Nursing Diagnoses and Related Factors in an Acute Care Setting

This study describes the prevalence of nursing interventions across six nursing diagnoses and their related factors using the framework of the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS). Six nursing diagnoses (pain, potential for injury, anxiety, decreased cardiac output, potential for infection, and knowledge deficit) were among the most prevalent in an acute care setting studied in 1992. The NMDS and a nursing information system using standardized classification systems for nursing diagnoses and interventions provided an opportunity to describe nursing practice. Multiple related factors were identified across all six nursing diagnoses; three or four were selected frequently within each diagnostic category. The related factors also influenced the selection of interventions. Implications for the development of nursing classification systems and recommendations for further research are described .     

Nursing Intervention Classification Systems

Purpose: To analyze the features, development, and research of the Omaha System, the Iowa Nursing Intervention Classification, and the Home Health Care Classification and provide a critical review of the unique components of each.
Organizing Framework: Five elements: achievement of original purpose, language used, ease of computerizing format, clinical utility, and linkage of the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS) nursing care elements.
Conclusions: Further testing and development of nursing classification systems should be done to determine the general value of nursing classification, the extent to which the original goals and purposes of classification are met, and to identify the unique features and contributions of each system. Further testing is important to determine the strengths, weaknesses, and applicability of the various systems for capturing the elements of the NMDS for different care settings, care givers, and patient populations.
Implications: Nursing classification may eventually lead to naming and describing the work of nurses. Research findings will continue to provide information leading to a unified nursing language system that describes the practice of nursing in local, regional, national, and international health-care data sets used for research, clinical, education, policy, and administrative purposes.     

The cross‐cultural adaptation of the Belgium Nursing Minimum Data Set to Finnish nursing

Background Nursing has been invisible in most of the international and national healthcare information systems and databases; also in Finland. The use of nursing minimum data set could be one solution to this problem. It is an information system that collects, stores, processes, retrieves, displays and communicates timely information about nursing practice needed for a variety of users and purposes. Objectives To test the cultural applicability of the Belgian Nursing Minimum Data Set (BeNMDS) to Finnish nursing. Methods The study design was methodological. It included testing of the validity, reliability and sensitivity of the BeNMDS. Content validity was tested using content analysis of the Finnish nursing doctorate dissertations, Katie Eriksson's publications of her Nursing Process Model and focus‐group interviews of the healthcare administrators. Reliability, construct validity and sensitivity were tested using the data collected with the BeNMDS‐tool from patients' nursing notes in Finnish Hospitals. Findings The validity, reliability and sensitivity of the BeNMDS in Finland were mainly good. The study showed, however, that the interventions to describe the patient's spiritual well‐being, were missing and the psycho‐social care interventions were insufficient in the data set. Conclusion The Finnish version of the BeNMDS has been shown to be valid, reliable and sensitive and applicable to describe nursing practice in Finland. Should the interventions to describe patient's spiritual and psycho‐social well‐being be included in the data set, Finnish nursing will have a valuable tool available to make nursing visible for the healthcare information systems and databases.     

Use of the nursing minimum data set.

The purpose of this study was to obtain information about usage of the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS). Forty-six individuals (44%) who requested the NMDS Data Collection Manual responded to a mailed questionnaire. Most respondents reported actually using the Manual to educate other nurses or to structure nursing documentation. More than one third of the respondents used all of the elements within the NMDS, but the majority used, or intended to use, the elements in the Nursing Care category. The majority of NMDS elements that were being used, or intended to be used, were available from handwritten patient records. The NMDS elements had been recorded on an ongoing basis by 86% of the respondents, but only 31% could retrieve readily all of the elements. Implications for access to comparable, minimum nursing care and resources data are discussed.     

Nursing dementing elderly people: ethical issues

It has been estimated that up to 40% of people with moderate to severe dementia live in residential homes or long-stay hospital wards This paper examines some of the ethical issues that arise in nursing people suffering from dementia within an institutional setting The paper focuses first on the nursing profession and the recently published Strategy for Nursing The fundamental patient/client values within the strategy recognize the uniqueness of the individual and the importance of providing nursing care which is tailored to meet individual needs The next part of the paper will examine the difficulties associated with individualizing care for people suffering from dementia and highlight some of the ethical issues involved in looking after them Finally, some of the general professional issues involved are examined and some tentative suggestions are put forward as to how some of the identified problems might be tackled     

The impact of genetic information on policy and clinical practice

This article discusses genetics-related policy issues that have an impact on health care systems, health care providers, and their patients: privacy, mass screening, family screening, and knowledge dissemination. Access, cost, and ethical implications are important discussant points for each of these genetic-related policy issues. Embedded in the issue of privacy are concerns of insurability, confidentiality, and discrimination. The public health policy implications related to mass screening programs include efficacy of the screening tests, availability of primary and secondary interventions, access, costs, and program evaluation. Policy issues for family screening are similar to mass screening, with added concerns about privacy and availability of adequate resources, including health care providers and counselors trained in genetics. Knowledge dissemination is critical to maintaining currency of clinical information and applications of genetic technologies and treatments. As genetic information expands, the need for knowledge dissemination will increase. The importance of advanced practice nurses' involvement in these policy issues is discussed.     

Using computerized medical databases to measure and to improve the quality of intensive care

This article reviews the potential for using computerized databases to measure the quality of care in the intensive care unit. There are 2 types of computerized databases used to assess quality of care: administrative databases used primarily for purposes other than medical care and electronic medical record databases collected specifically for clinical purposes. Quality of care is a difficult property to measure but is generally assessed along 3 domains: structure, process, and outcome. There are several problems with using computerized medical databases to measure and improve quality of care. Many factors known to be important to measuring the severity of illness and process of care in critically ill patients are not captured in routine administrative databases. The criteria for the ethical use of electronic medical record data for research, clinical care, and quality improvement are identical to those that should be applied to using paper medical records. Standardizing a minimal intensive care unit dataset, identifying and measuring optimal processes of care, and understanding the limits of risk adjusted outcomes are all important steps in the process of the optimal use of computerized databases to study and improve the quality of care in the intensive care unit.