NURS 6411 Normalization of Data Week 7 Discussion
The transition into digitized data storage and access systems in health care requires a general adjustment in data capturing techniques. In the days of paper records, redundancy was a standard—information was written and rewritten with each patient visit. Digitized data storage and the normalization of data can help reduce this redundancy. Ideally, a patient can enter a facility and information previously submitted is readily available. The provider can simply apply updates and make adjustments to the information as necessary. This saves the health care provider time and the organization’s information system space. Additionally, this decrease of data input can lead to improved quality and patient safety as fewer diagnostic errors associated with navigating a patient’s information are less likely to occur.
Consider the following scenario:
You have recently been hired by a small community hospital as a nurse informaticist. One of your first responsibilities is to help to convert records to an electronic format. You decide to address the process of ordering medicine for patients and you need to develop a database to address the issue. Currently all of the patient information is contained in an Excel spreadsheet, which contains the following categories: PATIENT ORDER, PATIENT medical record number (MRN), PATIENT Name, Order Number, MEDICATION Name, MEDICATION Description, Quantity, PATIENT Address, and Date Ordered. In designing your database, you need to normalize the data in order to remove redundancies and duplications. What approach will you take to normalize the data?
Note: A PATIENT can have multiple orders but an order can be for only one MEDICATION. Patient medical record number (MRN) and Order Number are the primary keys.
To prepare:
- Review the information in your course text, Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management on how to normalize data.
- What form of normalization would use (1NF, 2NF, 3NF)?
- Illustrate the normalized form for PATIENT ORDER.
- Reflect on the issues you encountered as you attempted to normalize the list.
- Consider the consequences of not normalizing data.
By Day 3
Post a brief description of how you would normalize the data from the scenario and your rationale. Describe the challenges that you encountered in determining how to normalize the data. Explain the possible consequences of failing to normalize data.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:
- Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.
- Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
- Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
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