FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/July 31, 1996 CONTACT: Anita Baumann [202/651-7048] ANA Launches Nursing Information and Data Set Evaluation CenterWASHINGTON, D.C. -- Recognizing the growing use of computerized information systems in health care and the need for professional standards, the American Nurses Association (ANA) has announced the establishment of the Nursing Information and Data Set Evaluation Center (NIDSEC). The Center's purpose is to develop and disseminate standards pertaining to the automated information systems that nurses use to document nursing care, and to evaluate for a fee information systems voluntarily submitted by developers. Standards will be developed to evaluate the completeness, accuracy, and appropriateness of four dimensions of nursing data sets and the systems that contain them: 1)nomenclature (the terms used); 2) clinical content (the associations between terms); 3) clinical data repository (how the data are stored and made accessible for retrieval); and 4) general system characteristics (i.e. performance and attention to security and confidentiality). A "data set" consists of a set of terms provided to clinicians for recording assessments, diagnoses, goals, interventions, and documentation on the plan of care and outcomes. Once the standards have been developed, NIDSEC will pilot the standards with private volunteer systems and revise them as needed. In addition, the Center will establish fees, publish the standards and application forms, develop a marketing plan and market the services to vendors, and conduct educational programs about the value of the service. The development of the Center comes after a series of calls for such standards from the Secretary of Health and Human Services Commission on Nursing in 1988, the ANA Council on Computer Applications in Nursing (CCAN) in 1988, and the National Commission on Nursing Implementation Project (NICNIP) in 1994. Up until this time, no group has developed standards related to nursing data and to information systems. As a result, there has been great diversity in the depth and quality of nursing-related data sets supplied by vendors with their systems. Vendors who meet the NIDSEC standards will be able to state that they use "ANA-Recognized Data Sets" when marketing their new information systems. NIDSEC was proposed by a joint task force appointed by the ANA Congress of Nursing Practice Steering Committee on Databases to Support Clinical Nursing Practice and the ANA Congress of Nursing Practice Committee on Nursing Practice Standards and Guidelines. The Center is expected to be fully operational in 1997.
|
