Data-driven clinical improvement: Oncology nurse leaders' perceptions and experiences of organisational data reports

Abstract

Aim: To elicit oncology nurse leaders' perceptions and experiences of accessing, using and interpreting report data at the unit level, and their suggestions for future reports.

Background: Nurse leaders are expected to use data reports for decisions about unit-level operations, yet data may be inaccessible, unavailable and lack relevance for improving patient care and unit-level outcomes.

Methods: A purposeful sampling was used to recruit 12 unit-level nurse leaders. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic content analysis.

Results: Consistent themes included the lack of accurate, useful and meaningful data specifically related to patient care. Accessibility Challenges, Limits to Applicability and Suggestions for Improvement were the main themes.

Conclusion: Nurse leaders require real-time data to effectively implement clinical interventions and practice changes for improving unit-level patient care.

Implications for nursing management: Nurse leaders emphasized that their insight into the development of customizable reports is crucial for obtaining meaningful data relevant to the varied unit-level health care setting. Reports targeting unit-level outcomes would provide meaningful data to facilitate clinical improvement where patient care is provided. Improved reports increase the likelihood of their use and the potential for enhancing the quality and safe care outcomes.

Keywords: data-driven; nurse leader perceptions; nurse leadership; outcomes.