Nursing Minimum Datasets: Development Process and Outcomes

1. Nursing Minimum Datasets: Development Process and Outcomes Jennifer G. Nooney, PhD National Center for Health Workforce Analysis Health Resources and Services Administration jnooney@hrsa.gov Research Lead, 2008 Nursing Minimum Dataset Project

2. Recognition of the Problem • State Centers for Nursing meet annually at a conference and virtually via discussion boards to form the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers (Forum). • Forum members noted • Wide variation in nurse workforce data quantity/quality across states • Varying measurement approaches • Lack of national data representing states well

3. The Forum’s Solution: States Submit to National Databases • A national repository of state-level data would allow: • more accurate national forecasting • more timely assessment of funding decisions and interventions • better state-to-state, state-to-region, and state-to-nation benchmarking • But first, standard data definitions must be adopted across the country.

4. Towards Standardization • 1995: Colleagues in Caring Minimum Supply Dataset • June, 2008: National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers Meeting in Denver, CO • Identified the problem as a priority • Established a subcommittee to assess current data collection practices • Set a goal of producing minimum datasets, the set of core data elements needed for our work

5. Towards Standardization • November, 2008: The project design was finalized through a contract between the Center to Champion Nursing in America and the Florida Center for Nursing (acting on behalf of the Forum) • Three additional states invited to participate via CCNA State Education Capacity Teams • A total of 31 states participated in one or more phases of the project

6. Process Overview and Timeline • State data assessment (July-December 08) • MDS Survey of States (Jan 09) • Drafting Workgroups (Feb-March) • Data Summit (late March 09) • Public Comment Period (May-June 09) • Ratification (September 09) • Implementation (ongoing)

7. Nurse Supply Dataset Elements

8. Nurse Demand Dataset Elements* *to be collected from hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and public health settings *to be collected by nurse type: CNA, LPN, RN, NP, CRNA, CNS, CNM

9. Nursing Program Dataset Elements* *to be collected from all LPN and RN education programs *student data collected by program type and track: LPN, Diploma, Generic ADN, Bridge ADN, Generic BSN, 2nd Degree BSN, RN-BSN, Entry-MSN, Post-licensure MSN, PhD, DNP, Other doctoral program

10. Implementation Stats as of June 2010 • Supply Dataset: 12 implemented, 5 working with partners to adopt • Demand Dataset: 5 implemented, 5 working with partners to adopt • Education Dataset: 9 implemented, 4 working with partners to adopt

11. Barriers to Implementation • Funding, funding, funding • recession makes it difficult to propose costly changes • adoption often depends on multiple entities, each with different funding challenges • Technology • particularly for Supply and Education, web survey and data collection software can be problematic

12. Lessons Learned • “Minimum” means different things to different people. • Agree on research questions first, then design a dataset to answer them. • Get the right people to the table early on in the process – you will need their support in implementation later.

13. For more information…. • The datasets: http://www.nursingworkforcecenters.org/minimumdatasets.aspx • The Forum: Linda Tieman, President lindat@wcnursing.org