Software development of information in the representation of patient safety and optimum performance of nurses

Abstract

Although an unambiguous and consistent representation is the foundation of data reuse, a locally
developed documentation system such as nursing flowsheets often fails to meet the requirement. This
article presents the domain modeling process of the ICU nursing flowsheet to clarify the meaning that its
contents represent and the lessons learned during the activity. This study has been done as a first step
toward reusing the data documented in a computerized nursing flowsheet for an algorithmic decision
making. Following the ontology development processes proposed by other researchers a conceptual
model was developed using Protégé. Then the existing information model was refined by fully specifying
the embedded information structures and by establishing linkages to the conceptual model at the finest
grained concept level. Domain knowledge that the experienced nurses provided was critical to correctly
interpret the meaning of the flowsheet contents as well as to verify the newly developed models. This
study reassured the importance of the roles of a nurse information to develop a computerized nursing
documentation system that accurately represents the information needs in nursing practice.
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