Am I a nurse? I'm old but never former.
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Attitude of Health Personnel↗
Biomedical subjects
Donna Diers
Publications and source records attributed to Donna Diers.
An analysis of high-cost users at an Australian public health service organization.
High-cost users generate extremely high costs when compared with average users in the same diagnostic-related group (DRG). They represent a major financial loss for a health service organization. The research was conducted using an area health service patient database for online analytical processing to produce descriptive statistics and graphs of 'high-cost' and 'non-high-cost users'. Trends and patterns were identified across key variables derived from clinical, financial and operational categories. The main results are: 20% of costs are spent by 3% of the population; elective admission is higher in the high-cost group; tracheostomy has the most number of cases and is the most expensive DRG; LOS is mostly longer for complex cases however, high costs can be attributed to other factors. In conclusion, these findings are potentially useful to patients, medical staff, management and health service decision-makers. The limitation of this study is the exclusion of profitability.
Costs and Cost Analysis↗
Developing data for practice and management: an Australian educational initiative.
As in other countries, the Australian healthcare industry is replete with massive data collections, often not used effectively to generate meaningful information to inform decision making, particularly at the operational or clinical level. While senior administrators and planners may use the data for forecasting or benchmarking, it is imperative that clinicians, including nurses and nurse managers, appreciate the value of the data and develop the knowledge and skills to access, analyze, and use it to inform their decision making. Only in the last decade or so have increasing numbers of nurses moved toward higher levels of information technology competence, particularly as information technology applications entered the healthcare sector. Facility in understanding standard administrative data is an important new skill for nurses who have an interest in information management. It is a skill that can readily be taught and its value becomes clearly evident to the students. This article describes an Australian University's Faculty of Nursing's approach to teaching this material at the master's level.
Computer User Training↗
Targeting educational initiatives.
The nursing education department of a large teaching hospital faced the challenge of prioritizing the delivery of staff education programs after reductions in personnel and resources. Patient population data were used to guide curricula development. Results included improved clinical practice in a cost-effective manner.
Asthma↗