MSNE 605 Joshua R. Smith

Week 1

Nursing has long been plagued by lacking a standardized means of communication up until the North American Nursing Diagnosis (NANDA) was developed and released in 1973 (Rutherford, 2008). The American Nurses Association (ANA) has built on standards through the Committee for Nursing Practice Information Infrastructure (CNPII) that have recognized two minimum data sets which will be explored this week. These include the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS), developed in 1988 and the Nursing Management Minimum Data Set (NMMDS), which was developed in 1989 (Rutherford, 2008). To provide some comparison to this nursing standardization, medicine recognized the need for standardization of medical diagnoses as far back as 1893 and has developed into what is know as the International Classification for Disease (ICD), now in it's 10th iteration (Rutherford, 2008).





Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS)

A term referring to a framework for collecting nursing care data with requirements including:

• Patient Demographics
• Nursing Process information  (Assessment- Diagnoses- Interventions- Outcomes)
• Elements of Service (Organization- Admission & Discharge Dates)     

These elements were developed in order to move toward developing a universally concise manner with which to describe the population, nursing interventions, and in order to assess the overall quality of nursing care delivered (Nelson & Staggers, 2014).

You can explore specific NMDS category elements by clicking here



Nursing Management Minimum Data Set (NMMDS)

This term refers to the collection of data associated with 18 variables concerned with supporting nursing administration in decision making. These variables are centered on:

• Nursing Environment
• Nursing Resources
• Financial Resources    (Nelson & Staggers, 2014)

The NMMDS is comprised of 18 elements organized into three categories which include the environment, nursing care, and financial resources. The 18 variables collected provide insight to assist in administrative analysis with which nurse executives can make informed decisions (Westra, et. al., 2010).


 You can explore specific NMMDS category elements by clicking here

Better Understanding a Dataset...



 Conclusion

In the interest of improving patient care through standardization of terminology it stands to reason that the American Nurses Association (ANA) would continue to move in the definitive direction of solidifying NMDS's and NMMDS's. The value of standardizing  nursing language will not only improve the consistency in care delivery, but also increase efficiency and promote the recognition of nursing care to the appropriate position. It is essential to nursing as a profession to move away from informal charting methods which have continued to dominate the profession's documentation methods (Rutherford, 2008).

The development of these standards will support the development of the nursing profession and build on the foundation of nursing practice. This will have implications for education, practice, and research in the future of nursing. There is continued need forth e development of EHR platform use to fully integrate this common terminology into practice.  

References:

Nelson, R., & Staggers, N. (2014). Health informatics: An interprofessional approach. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
 

Rutherford, M. A. (2008). Standardized Nursing Language: What Does it Mean for Nursing    Practice? American Nurses Association, 13(1). Retrieved February 1, 2016.

Westra, B., Subramanian, A., Hart, C., Matney, S., Wilson, P., Huff, S., & ... Delaney, C. (2010). Achieving 'meaningful use' of electronic health records through the integration of the Nursing Management Minimum Data Set. Journal Of Nursing Administration, 40(7/8), 336-343 8p. doi:10.1097/NNA.0b013e3181e93994