BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING

NCM 113 JOURNAL READING:

THE OMAHA SYSTEM AND MEANINGFUL USE:
APPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE, EDUCATION, AND RESEARCH

SUBMITTED BY:
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September 25, 2020

SUMMARY
The Omaha System is an exemplar of a standardized terminology that enables
meaningful use of clinical data to support and improve patient-centered clinical
practice, education, and research. This article provides national and international
examples across a variety of healthcare settings and patient populations. The
examples illustrate the federal initiative to invest in information technology and
promote meaningful use: a patient-centered, interdisciplinary approach to care;
improved workflow and communication; and use and reuse of information. The
examples are congruent with the cornerstones of the National Quality Forum matrix
by enhancing clinical decisions at the point of care, increasing the quality of care,
promoting interoperability, and decreasing costs. Although the primary goal was to
provide high-quality services for individuals and families who had serious health-
related problems, the secondary goal was to establish a repository that faculty and
students could use to integrate clinical, financial, and statistical data. Educators
selected the Omaha System to standardize practice, documentation, and information
management and now have a 24-year data repository to analyze. Today, nurses in
practice, education, and research settings are leaders as they develop tools and
methods to support meaningful use of the structured data generated by these
terminologies. Use of the Omaha System is increasing steadily in diverse practice,
education, and research settings nationally and internationally.

REACTION
This journal article conducted by the researchers that is focused on the Omaha
System and Meaningful Use, including the applications for practice, education, and
research, was detailed and adeptly discussed. The Omaha System (OS) is one of the
oldest of the American Nurses Association recognized standardized terminologies
describing and measuring the impact of healthcare services. This systematic review
presents the state of science on the use of the OS in practice, research, and education.
For more than four decades, the Omaha System (OS) served healthcare providers in
diverse settings as a standardized terminology for documentation of clinical
information and to support healthcare research.
 As I read the article, I learned that it consists of 3 relational, valid, and reliable
components designed to be fully integrated namely: Problem Classification Scheme,
Intervention Scheme, and Problem Rating Scale for Outcomes. I think it’s
exceptionally convenient and suitable to have these 3 main steps to describe care.
For the Problem Classification Scheme, it involves the patient-centered assessment
that engages the patients and their families. Then, the Intervention Scheme that
consists of the plans, pathways, service delivery to improve safety, quality, and
effectiveness. Lastly, the Problem Rating Scale for Outcomes that comprises the
evaluation that provides usable information for quality improvement. Hence, I do agree
that using the Omaha System facilitated needs assessment, program evaluation, and
outcomes management processes does play an integral role in guiding practice,
increasing the value of services, and thus improving patient and population outcomes.
Moreover, healthcare leaders are using the Omaha System as a tool to address
the meaningful use goals: monitor and enhance care quality, efficiency, and value;
engage patients and families; improve care coordination; and promote population
health.
Learning all that, I became more interested about the system and searched
more about it. Understanding it more clearly, I realized that getting information on how
effective the interventions done for the patients can be tremendously difficult and time-
consuming. It’s a tough task to get numerous information needed in order to prove
that interventions are doing all good for the client. Omaha System makes it timelier
and more practical. It provides the benefit of less forms to fill out, less typing, and more
time with the patient. The Omaha System measures the effectiveness of our
interventions or what we do for the clients. It categorizes the information so that you
can go back and retrieve it easily. You’re able to pull up any data you want quickly.
Speaking of benefits, it is also a dynamic and user-friendly language used in countries
throughout the world. It’s powerful and has been extensively tested for reliability and
validity. Furthermore, it was also stated that the Omaha System provides means by
which various disciplines in community health settings can document care in a flexible,
comprehensive, and concise manner. In conclusion the Omaha System, one of the
first clinical nomenclatures to be developed, is highly regarded and highly valued most
especially because it is research-based, created specifically to describe community
health care, designed to be used in electronic documentation systems, and has been
extensively tested for reliability and validity for decades.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Champ Software. (2018). What Is The Omaha System and What Does It Offer You?
EHR, Omaha System. Retrieved from https://www.champsoftware.com/
Martin, K., Monsen, K., & Bowles, K. (2011). The Omaha System and Meaningful
Use: Applications for Practice, Education, and Research. Computers,
Informatics, Nursing, 29(1): 52-58.
Topaz, M., Golfenshtein, N., & Bowles, K. (2014). The Omaha System: a systematic
review of the recent literature. J Am Med Inform Assoc., 21(1): 163–170.
Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/