Information and Knowledge Management

In Canada, efforts are underway to advance the adoption of clinical data standards in the documentation of nursing practice. Data standards will:

• Allow for consistent monitoring of outcomes across the continuum of care, thereby facilitating safe, quality care and continuity of care;
• Enable national, peer-group comparability, providing both macro and micro insights to guide decision-making and inform funding requirements and health human resource planning;
• Support the rationalization of nursing documentation efforts and opportunities to efficiently manage related by-products (e.g., nursing workload capture and health records coding); and
• Improve population health by enabling individuals to use consistently named, defined, and measured clinical outcomes data to understand and manage illness and improve their health.