Drawn from the "Guiding Principles for Big Data in Nursing" report, put together earlier this spring by the HIMSS CNO-CNIO Vendor Roundtable, these 10 principles are meant to point the way toward smarter use of data by nurses and nurse informaticists.

As those on the front line look to harness data to improve quality, safety, communication, coordination and cost-effectiveness, the roundtable finds that standards and interoperability, broader use of electronic clinical quality measures and more targeted use of CNIO expertise will be essential to making the most of this new data proliferation.

Learn more about HIMSS' nursing informatics initiatives here.

Nurses should recommend consistent use of research-based assessment scales and instruments that are standardized through an international consensus body, the report suggests. Lack of standardization makes comparison of data challenging and adds to the burden of cost for copyright permissions and/or licensing of such instruments.

The use of free text documentation should be minimal, according to HIMSS. When "within defined limits" is used, discrete data elements should be stored within the EHR to enable decision support, research, analytics and knowledge generation.

To advance nursing-sensitive quality eMeasures, paper measure sets must be evaluated for appropriateness, and expectations set for which data should be collected, how the data are collected and the required terminologies to be used, HIMSS suggests

Clinical quality eMeasures must support evidence-based, cost effective care that follows clinical practice guidelines and minimizes the negative impact on clinicians’ workflow, according to HIMSS.

To achieve the desired outcomes, nurse informaticists should have formal informatics training education and certification.