5 How to prevent falls in nursing home patients Name Institution Course Date Introduction A patient fall is a descent to the floor that is unplanned which may cause injury to the patient and occurs in a nursing unit (Minor, 2009). Bouldin et al. (2013) identify patient falls as a threat to the safety of patients. Falls in nursing units are classified in levels in a continuum as death, major, moderate, minor and none (Minor, 2009). The Center for Medicaid and Medicare services in 2008 introduced a policy for compensating patients as a way of reducing falls although this has had little impact among nursing home patients (Sand, Owen, & Amin, 2012). This paper makes use DIKW continuum to find out how a nurse can prevent falls among nursing home patients Moen & Maeland Knudsen (2013) define Nursing informatics as the combined use of nursing science, information science, and computer science to aid nurses in the processing and managing of information, nursing data and knowledge in the delivery of care and practice of nursing. Transformation of the health sectors has resulted from the changes in and advancement of technology. The transformation in information technology has affected how healthcare practitioners practice. Nurses refer to the transformation in information technology in their sector as nursing informatics which entails an information system, support system, and decision making system. DIKW model By making use of nursing informatics, nurses in their practice settings are not only able to organize data, but also apply in the process of delivering healthcare services. Nurses also make use of information, wisdom, and knowledge in providing intervention measures and finding solutions to the problems clients encounter in their day to day lives. Figure 6.1 shows how nurses make use of data in a continuum from data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in their daily practice. From the lower end of the continuum, a nurse moves from making use of data to making use of information. The lowest level involves collecting, naming and organizing data. A nurse at this level is required to gather data and have a detailed organized record of the patient or context. He or she is then required to move to the information level where the data collected is organized and interpreted. By organizing data, the nurse is able to manage and interpret the data. The knowledge and wisdom levels are on the higher end of the continuum. Interpreting data is a common attribute as a nurse move from the information to the knowledge level. Interpreting, integrating and understanding information is a key feature of the knowledge level. A nurse at the knowledge level is able to understand the interconnections and relationships between the information. Abnormalities and patterns are thus identified at this level. Beyond integrating knowledge, the wisdom levels involve the application of knowledge in the provision of care. Data to information Getting da.

1. 5
How to prevent falls in nursing home patients
Name
Institution
Course
Date
Introduction
A patient fall is a descent to the floor that is unplanned which
may cause injury to the patient and occurs in a nursing unit
(Minor, 2009). Bouldin et al. (2013) identify patient falls as a
threat to the safety of patients. Falls in nursing units are
classified in levels in a continuum as death, major, moderate,
minor and none (Minor, 2009). The Center for Medicaid and
Medicare services in 2008 introduced a policy for compensating
patients as a way of reducing falls although this has had little

2. impact among nursing home patients (Sand, Owen, & Amin,
2012). This paper makes use DIKW continuum to find out how a
nurse can prevent falls among nursing home patients
Moen & Maeland Knudsen (2013) define Nursing informatics as
the combined use of nursing science, information science, and
computer science to aid nurses in the processing and managing
of information, nursing data and knowledge in the delivery of
care and practice of nursing. Transformation of the health
sectors has resulted from the changes in and advancement of
technology. The transformation in information technology has
affected how healthcare practitioners practice. Nurses refer to
the transformation in information technology in their sector as
nursing informatics which entails an information system,
support system, and decision making system.
DIKW model
By making use of nursing informatics, nurses in their practice
settings are not only able to organize data, but also apply in the
process of delivering healthcare services. Nurses also make use
of information, wisdom, and knowledge in providing
intervention measures and finding solutions to the problems
clients encounter in their day to day lives. Figure 6.1 shows
how nurses make use of data in a continuum from data,
information, knowledge, and wisdom in their daily practice.
From the lower end of the continuum, a nurse moves from
making use of data to making use of information. The lowest
level involves collecting, naming and organizing data. A nurse
at this level is required to gather data and have a detailed
organized record of the patient or context. He or she is then
required to move to the information level where the data
collected is organized and interpreted. By organizing data, the
nurse is able to manage and interpret the data.
The knowledge and wisdom levels are on the higher end of
the continuum. Interpreting data is a common attribute as a
nurse move from the information to the knowledge level.
Interpreting, integrating and understanding information is a key
feature of the knowledge level. A nurse at the knowledge level

3. is able to understand the interconnections and relationships
between the information. Abnormalities and patterns are thus
identified at this level. Beyond integrating knowledge, the
wisdom levels involve the application of knowledge in the
provision of care.
Data to information
Getting data for the research question entailed making use
of the internet and the Walden University Library. It also
entailed making use of the OVID and CINAHL nursing journal
databases with the Keywords “nursing home.” The Ovid
database generated 24 article titles. I picked on and chose to
read the titles that relate to my topic. This level then entailed
creating a table where articles with related information are
classified on the causes of and solutions that they recommend
towards preventing fall in nursing homes and ensuring their
proper management. The abstract of the articles influenced the
classification of the article in terms of topics in the process of
data extraction. Then, reading of the full articles was necessary
before extracting information from the article that is necessary
towards interpreting the direction and thinking of the scholars
therein. Data stored in electronic health records was necessary
for understanding the prevalence of falls among nursing home
patients.
Information to Knowledge
After organizing information through sorting and classifying the
information interpreting information enhanced the nurse’s
movement to knowledge. Interpretation of concepts from the
different articles was necessary towards enhancing
understanding. The arguments from the different arguments
were then integrated to generate understanding and identify the
existing gaps in the prevention of fall among nursing home
patients. It also helped understand the steps other practitioners
have taken in the past to prevent falls. Interpreting the findings
by critically analyzing the articles and integrating information
forms the basis for making and justifying the decisions made.
Information to usable knowledge

4. Relying on information from epistemic communities makes it
easily acceptable as usable knowledge. By thus collaborating
and working with experts in nursing home patients it is possible
to separate and understand the knowledge that is usable and that
which is not. Relying on authoritative sources made it easier for
policymakers and scholars to accept the recommendations
towards improving and supporting the decisions and choices
made.
Knowledge to wisdom
This level entailed making use of knowledge to prevent falls in
a nursing home. It entailed making use of available case
studies. In this level, I made use of the available best practice
methods to choose the practices that best would help prevent
falls in a nursing home. It also entailed using the available
knowledge to provide care that takes into consideration the
needs of the patients and nurses towards preventing falls in
nursing homes. Staff education was found to be one way that
has helped reduce the number of patient falls (Minor, 2009).
There is however little emphasis on educating patients in ways
that would reduce falls in nursing homes. In this case, therefore,
there is a need for employing a combination of factors that
include educating and compensating them for falls as a way of
preventing falls among nursing home patients.
Conclusion
The Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom informs
decision making and enhances making use of usable knowledge
in creating nursing intervention measures. With the availability
of nursing informatics tools like electronic health records and
information systems, it is easy to gather and classify
information. Nurses then use the information to generate and
interpret knowledge required to make wise choices. Reducing
falls in nursing home patients can make use of the model in the
creation of an appropriate policy that responds to both the needs
of the nurses and patients.

5. References
Bouldin, E. D., Andresen, E. M., Dunton, N. E., Simon, M.,
Waters, T. M., Liu, M., ... & Shorr, R. I. (2013). Falls among
adult patients hospitalized in the United States: prevalence and
trends. Journal of patient safety, 9(1), 13.
Minor, M. (2009). Patient Falls. Sustained improvement in
nursing quality: hospital performance on NDNQI indicators,
2007-2008, 149.
Moen, A., & Maeland Knudsen, L. M. (2013). Nursing
informatics: decades of contribution to health
informatics. Healthcare informatics research, 19(2), 86-92.