Data analytics is increasingly essential to healthcare operations, and it’s a skill set that nursing administration professionals must master to provide the most optimized, efficient healthcare management services.
However, given how quickly information technology evolves, healthcare administrators and those seeking similar careers often must find ways to stay current on the latest data capture and interpretation strategies. William Paterson University’s online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) – Nursing Administration program introduces students to current data analytics trends and knowledge of how to translate that information to sound business decisions that benefit patients, staff and organizational health.
What Is the Role of Data Analytics in Modern Healthcare?
Data analytics informs nearly every aspect of modern healthcare, offering insights into patient wellness and complex population health challenges while fostering greater connectivity through IT and data integration. For example, analytics allow nurse administrators to closely manage supply chains and inventory, deepen engagement throughout the care cycle and monitor the organization’s fiscal health.
Nursing administration professionals who harness this abundance of systematically collected data can capitalize on a number of benefits, including improved care delivery, employee well-being and the organization’s sustainability.
- Improve the quality of care and outcomes. Predictive analytics and artificial intelligence are emerging data-enrichment tools that offer another option for identifying areas for improvement or vulnerable, at-risk patients. This modeling technology uses patient data to calculate the likelihood that they will develop a disease such as diabetes or stroke. Based on this information, providers and administrators can implement targeted interventions to slow or avert disease progression and improve outcomes.
- Mitigate risk. Risk management is central to healthcare operations, and nurse administrators must consider how each policy or interaction impacts the safety of patients, staff and the community. Specifically, analytics can flag patients with a history of missed appointments, allowing administrators to redirect resources toward following up on their care. It can also alert administrators to risky prescribing practices, like over- or under-prescribing, and signal that a provider may have too high a workload or could use additional support or education.
- Realize new cost efficiencies. Moderating growing healthcare costs is a significant challenge in today’s marketplace, especially amid historic inflation and the expense of caring for an aging population with complex comorbidities. Administrators can identify patterns in the community and care cycle by reviewing aggregated data, like local disease transmission or duplicate lab testing. Then, they can use this information to refine their service offerings, target interventions to stem the tide of disease and streamline employee workflows and patient access to care.
What Data Applications Do Nurse Administrators Use?
Nurse administrators utilize a range of applications and systems to collect, organize, store and analyze data, including:
- Electronic health records
- Clinical decision-making tools
- E-prescribing systems
- Patient portals
- Master patient indexes
- Compliance databases
- Budgeting software and spreadsheets
- Billing software
- Cloud-based applications
In addition, healthcare administrators may need to know about emerging trends like predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and blockchain systems.
Gain Data Analytics Skills With an MSN in Nursing Administration
Because nurse administrators must know how to navigate data analytics resources to serve others and lead their facilities, it is an integral component of William Paterson University’s online MSN – Nursing Administration program. The curriculum includes a course called Healthcare Data Analytics, which covers data analytics essentials and how these concepts and practices can improve information gathering and distribution and increase performance. This course helps equip graduates to succeed in healthcare executive roles, alongside other coursework that develops interprofessional business knowledge and expands nursing theory and leadership skills.
The ability to collect vast quantities of data — made possible by the ubiquity of technology — means that nurse administrators have more information at their fingertips than ever. Through strategic data compilation and analysis, nursing administration professionals can feel confident that their efforts are improving the well-being of patients, staff and communities.
Learn more about WP’s online MSN – Nursing Administration program.
