Benchmarking public health nursing data: A feasibility study

Background: The APQC defines benchmarking as the process of identifying, learning, and adapting outstanding practices and processes from any organization, anywhere in the world, to help an organization improve its performance. Public demand for accountability in public health nursing (PHN) practice has led to an emphasis on performance measurement. In response, many PHN agencies adopted documentation software that incorporates the Omaha System. The Omaha System allows practitioners to routinely collect client data on problem-specific assessments, interventions, and outcomes. Some agencies have begun to compare data across agencies; however, no Omaha System benchmarking standards exist for PHN programs.

Methods: This exploratory, descriptive, and comparative study of existing Omaha System examines outcomes data for one PHN agency and program by problem and year, over six years time, to determine if there is consistency in results over time for this specific program. Using a stable and reliable dataset with previously documented validity, the following five aspects of Omaha System data will be compared: problem frequencies by year; mean baseline ratings by problem & year; mean final ratings by problem & year; significance of improvement by problem & year; and percent of clients who showed improvement by problem & year.

Results: The study is in process and will be completed in advance of the 2009 annual meeting. Preliminary results show stability of the data over time, with differential improvement by problem and by outcome measure.

Conclusions: The increased ability to compare PHN interventions and outcomes within and between agencies through benchmarking Omaha System data can lead to the identification of successes and necessary improvements within PHN practice. Findings of this study will set the stage for comparison with other programs and agencies, and begin international benchmark development using the Omaha System.