The Alternatives for Wellness Centers: Drown in Data or Develop a Reasonable Electronic Documentation System

Measuring and quantifying the outcomes of care are becoming essential activities for the ongoing operation of nurse-managed health centers. Centers need a data collection system to collect meaningful data that assist with the development of programs and services, measure clinical outcomes, and promote health policy. Accomplishing these objectives is especially difficult in a health and wellness setting designed for an aging population. When tracking the care process over time, it is possible to drown in the data, especially qualitative data. This article describes the experiences of advanced practice nurses as they explored alternatives and devised a system to collect and manage qualitative and quantitative data using the Omaha System in a health and wellness setting for older adults. To be successful, nurse managed health centers and all providers must systematically evaluate their data and information needs as well as available systems and then implement an action plan.