Data Information Knowledge Wisdom (DIKW) Continuum Essay

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Data Information Knowledge Wisdom (DIKW) Continuum Essay

NURS-6051C-8, Transforming Nursing and Healthcare through Technology

Using the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom Continuum to Reduce Blood Culture Contamination

Blum introduced the DIKW (data-information-knowledge-wisdom) continuum in 1986 as a way to better understand clinical informatics and how it affects health care (American Nurses Association, 2015). The DIKW framework for nursing aids nurses in better understanding how wisdom can be applied in clinical practice by organizing all available data into information, which is then synthesized to form knowledge relationships. The framework has become a vehicle for transporting and educating the health care industry toward making nursing interventions visible by discussing the interrelationships within the DIKW continuum (Charlene, Currie, & Rodney, 2016).

Nursing has changed in recent years, and nurses are now expected to keep their practices up to date in order to improve nursing processes. Clinical areas develop questions in search of answers to help improve the quality of patient care. In order to practice with wisdom and apply wisdom to practice, nurses can use the DIKW paradigm to answer clinical questions.

The goal of this paper is to identify a clinical question that is relevant to the emergency department and to discuss the answer using the DIKW framework Data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) continuum essay methods. Applying the information gained via this strategy in a clinical environment will show how informatics is useful in gaining wisdom.

Data information knowledge wisdom continuum essay.

Clinical Concern

Blood cultures are lab procedures that detect the presence of microorganisms in the blood and identify the infection’s disease-causing agents (Reed, 2017). Patients and hospitals suffer from contaminated blood cultures because of unneeded antibiotic treatment, unnecessary hospitalization, and a longer hospital stay.

In November, the blood culture contamination rate in my area of practice was more than 3%. The current national average contamination rate is between 2% and 3%. (Bentley, Thakore, Muir, Baird, & Lee, 2016). The clinical topic that this article will address is: What are the most effective approaches to minimize blood culture contamination rates in emergency departments? It’s crucial to figure out what’s causing the high contamination rate so that solutions may be put in place to decrease or eradicate the issue.

Addressing the Clinical Question with the DIKW Continuum

The DIKW continuum starts with data, which is defined as uninterpreted facts collected via observation (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). At this point in the paradigm, the blood culture contamination rate at the emergency room in November and the national average represent two separate data sets.

I ran a search using Cinahl Plus with Full Text from the six suggested nursing databases at the Walden Library. As indicated in the database description, this database comprises peer-reviewed literature and evidence-based articles with complete texts. Blood culture contamination was one of the key terms searched, and 103 publications were found.

After reducing the time period to 2013-2018, the search was further cut down to 52 candidates. The emergency department was utilized as an extra key term to find publications related to my specialty area, and 14 articles were found. I looked for titles that might assist me to find material to address the clinical inquiry from the previous pick.

Data to Information

Information is acquired by combining data points to offer structure to the existing data set (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). Blood culture contamination rates in the emergency room were 3.24 percent in September, 3.76 percent in October, and 3.89 percent in November, according to data from the hospital’s infection control department.

The data indicated an increasing trend. The national average rate is between two and three percent, hence the department’s rate is high in comparison to national norms in the last three months. According to further information obtained from the infection control department, the major source of the issue is insufficient site preparation.

Another reason was a lack of knowledge about adequate blood culture collection. Essay on the DIKW (data-information-knowledge-wisdom) continuum According to the statistics, there are two key variables that contributed to the department’s increasing contamination rates.

Data information knowledge wisdom continuum essay.

Information to Knowledge

Knowledge is created through the synthesis of a collection of data in which patterns and linkages are discovered (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). The evidence acquired leads to the conclusion that the rising trend in the department’s contamination rate is due to inappropriate insertion site preparation in acquiring blood culture and a lack of instruction in the effective blood culture collection.

Best practices for blood culture collection were determined from papers analyzed in the nursing database. To address the challenges found in the department, it is vital to seek out evidence-based methods. Staff instruction with return demonstration, the use of sand timers to give the correct time for cleaning blood culture collection sites, and the use of a blood culture kit are all successful ways for minimizing contamination rates, according to Constance, Coleman, and Cunningham (2015).

Another paper suggested using optimal skin antisepsis, following a sterile glove approach, and training a group of committed staff members to extract blood culture specimens (Denno & Gannon, 2013). The application of knowledge in addressing a clinical issue is accomplished by determining which best practice is applicable to the department based on the major elements that caused the problem.

Knowledge to Wisdom

Wisdom is the use of knowledge to solve a problem (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). This stage involves putting the knowledge gained from interpreting and organizing facts and information to use. There were two possible reasons for the issue.

The use of blood culture kits and implementation of staff education on proper blood culture collection followed by a return demonstration to verify the competencies of nurses and emergency department technicians were identified as best practices that should be implemented in the emergency department based on practicality and cost-effectiveness.

Because there is no one cause of blood culture contamination, hospitals must identify the specific sources of contamination and devise a customized plan based on their resources.

Summary

Data, information, knowledge, and wisdom are important to nurses in all specialties, according to the American Nurses Association (2015). When presented with a clinical challenge, the DIKW continuum facilitates the decision-making process to arrive at a solid nursing conclusion. Nursing informatics, as a nursing specialization, aids in the development of nursing knowledge.

The DIKW paradigm was used to intelligently answer the clinical issue of the optimum approach for decreasing blood culture contamination. The DIKW model will be utilized to guide my clinical practice and decision-making as an acute care nurse practitioner in the future.

Data information knowledge wisdom continuum essay.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the DIKW theory?

The DIKW Pyramid shows the links between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. Each building block is a step towards a higher level – first comes data, next is information, next is knowledge, and lastly comes wisdom. Each phase answers distinct questions regarding the basic data and adds value to it.

2. What is the data to wisdom continuum?

The Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) (DIKW) Continuum is a notion of synthesizing data to have meaningful information to develop the knowledge essential to have the correct wisdom to make educated clinical choices with respect to patient care.

3. What role does DIKW Pyramid play?

It serves as a circular model to comprehend the free flow of data within an organization. It acts as a linear model to highlight the many approaches to getting insights and value from everyone. forms of data

Additional content on the topic.

References

• American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author.
• Bentley, J., Thakore, S., Muir, L., Baird, A., & Lee, J. (2016). A change of culture: Reducing blood culture contamination rates in an emergency department. BMJ Quality Improvement Reports, 5(1). doi: 10.1136/bmjquality.u206760.w2754
• Bowen, C. M., Coleman, T., & Cunningham, D. (2015). Reducing blood culture contaminations in the emergency department: It takes a team. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 42(4), 306-311. doi:10.1016/j.jen.2015.10.021
• Denno, J., & Gannon, M. (2013). Practical steps to lower blood culture contamination rates in the emergency department. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 39(5), 459-464.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2012.03.006
• McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
• Ronquillo, C., Currie, L. M., & Rodney, P. (2016). The evolution of data-information-knowledge-wisdom in nursing informatics. Advances in Nursing Science, 39(1), e1-e18. doi: 10.1097/ANS.0000000000000107 Data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) continuum essay
• Steed, L. L. (2017). Reducing blood culture contamination. Clinical Lab Product. Retrieved from http://www.clpmag.com/2017/08/reducing-blood-culture-contamination/