From Data, Information and Knowledge to Wisdom

From Data, Information and Knowledge to Wisdom The data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) continuum is a concept of the transformation of data into wisdom through cognitive processes. DIKW was initially used to illustrate principles of information management for the designing of information systems (Davenport & Pursak, 1989)(Saltworks, 2009). DIKW models utilized by nursing such as the model by Englebart & Nelson (2002), incorporate principles of increasing complexity due to increasing interactions What is important and unique to nursing is the DIKW concepts and models also help describe the critical thinking processes that nurses use to transform knowledge into the delivery of patient care, into education and learning and also into nursing research (ANA-American Nurses Association, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the progression through the four steps of the data, information, knowledge, wisdom continuum that occurs research information to answer a clinical question pertinent to nurse practitioner practice. Standardized N nursing Language in Nurse Practitioner Practice The use of electronic information and decision support systems in nursing practice has brought about the introduction of several standardized nursing languages to document and communicate patient care. (McGonigle & Mastria, 2012 ). The identity of the Nurse Practitioner is grounded in nursing practice but has also expanded to include the functions of a physician (O'Connor, Hameister, & Kershaw, 2000). Given the merged identity of the Nurse Practitioner the clinical question is :Would a standardized nursing language adequately document the patient care delivered by a nurse practitioner? The Search for Clinical Data Data are discreet entities that in of themselves have no meaning. The search for data related to the clinical question was conducted through the Walden Library Health Science and Nursing
Databases.
DATA TO WISDOM

References: American Nurses Association. (2008). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice. Silver Springs, MD Bernstein, J.H. ( 2009) The Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom Hierarchy and its Antithesis McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2012). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (2nd ed.) O 'Connor, N.A., Hameister, A.D., Kershaw, T. (2000). Application of Standardized Nursing Language to Describe Adult Nurse Practitioner Practice