Student Name

Capella University

NURS-FPX6424 Data Mining to Advance Healthcare

Professor Name

Submission Date

Abstract

Leveraging EHR Data and the TIGER Informatics Model: A Nursing-Led Strategy to Reduce Medication Errors by Standardizing Clinical Decision Support Across a 40-Bed Medical-Surgical Unit

Medications are one of the largest threats to the health care of patients in the United States. An estimated 1.5 million patients suffer from the effects of medication errors every year, and there are many unnecessary deaths as a result of medication errors (Webster, 2022). The QI initiative was shared at the 2026 American Nursing Association (ANA) Annual Conference in Webster, 2022. It was after a 22% rise in medication error incident reporting was detected using EHR Audit Logs and Pharmacy reconciliation that this was achieved. The identified gaps were: inconsistent EHR safety data use of clinical decision support systems (CDSS), an incomplete medication reconciliation at clinical transition points, and decreased nurse EHR safety data competency. Some research indicates that the alerts for adverse drug events can reduce ADEs when nurses respond to the alerts when they are triggered by CDSS. Medication reconciliation – some of the workflows that have been studied have been shown to reduce hand-off errors. Moreover, real-time dashboards can support care coordinators in early detection of at-risk situations (Tsai et al., 2022). The intervention “TIGER” was holistic and had three stages in terms of the three pillars of the TIGER model: computer literacy, information literacy, and data management. A common method to identify prescribed medication/dosage out of target range and/or an adult patient prescribed medications for a non-USFDA-approved indication. The medication reconciliation module was incorporated into the admission and discharge processes. A new unit-level safety dashboard was created that provides an hourly data refresh update of a variety of alerts, medication reconciliation completion, and near-miss rates. Nursing staff were re-educated anytime the override rate at night was more than 30% after the medication administration records (MARS) were audited at night. A re-education for the nursing staff was provided within 48 hours of the nightly override rate being more than 30% after medication administration records (MARS) were audited at night. Thirty-eight percent (38%) fewer medication errors were found in Outcomes; 44% more adherence to the clinical decision support system (CDSS); and 31% less discrepancy in medication reconciliation in Outcomes within 60 days following implementation. This indicates that the competency of data management, alert override monitoring, and nursing practice competency involving informatics in nursing is a necessity to further improve the outcome of healthcare delivery in terms of medication safety.

Keywords:

Technology, such as electronic health records (EHRs), can reduce the risk of medication errors if HIT systems are considered from the drug administration perspective by the nurse as well. Adjusting the nurse’s perspective of HIT systems to include the drug administration point of view can help lower the risk of medication errors when using electronic health records (EHRs).