Nursing Informatics
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Nursing Informatics
Nursing informatics applies to all areas of nursing practice: nursing administration, nursing research, and professional nursing education. Informatics is the field of study that combines computer science and information science. When used within the context of a specific discipline the application of computer science and information science is applied to the management and processing for data, information, and knowledge of the discipline to assist in making sound decisions.
Data
Data by itself has no meaning. It is merely a collection of numbers, characters, or facts. For example, the number 205 has no meaning. Do the numbers 205 represent pounds, systolic blood pressure, or an area code? If the number 205 refers to pounds, is it referring to the weight of a 6' 6" male or to a 5' female teenager? There is a big difference and would take on different meanings if more information were known. In other words, data must be processed in the proper context for it to take on any meaning...