If you're planning on attending the Southern Nursing Research Society conference in Orlando, FL; please consider attending the "Leveraging Big Data to Improve the Quality and Safety of Patient Care" workshop presented by Michael Cary, associate professor; Nancy Crego, assistant professor; Victoria Goode, assistant professor; and Deirdre Thornlow, assistant professor on Feb. 27 from 8 until 11 a.m. Emily Hauenstein of the University of Delaware and Elizabeth Merwin of The University of Texas Arlington will co-present the workshop.

Within the past 15 years, the use of secondary data, or existing data has become more accessible to clinicians, managers, and researchers. Yet, nurse researchers whether due to a lack of methodological training or preference for primary data collection, have been surprisingly slow to utilize these useful resources. In this 3-hour workshop, we describe fundamental concepts and skills needed to conduct research studies using secondary data to improve the quality and safety of patient care.  We also provide a brief description of datasets and online resources for doctoral nursing students and investigators, with interest but limited prior experience, in secondary data analysis.  Several real-world case examples of analyzing secondary data in nursing and healthcare research will be presented, each illustrating key steps: (1) define a research question; (2) select an appropriate dataset; (3) build your analysis; and (4) present findings in a way that that informs healthcare policy and/or clinical practice.

There are no prerequisites for this workshop.  However, it is best suited for participants who have taken graduate-level statistics and research design; and are currently managing or planning to manage large secondary data projects.

Participants in this workshop will learn fundamental concepts of secondary data analysis, evaluate exemplars of secondary data sources for nursing and public health research, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of secondary data analysis and learn how to identify interdisciplinary professionals needed to build effective research teams within health care and/or academic organizations.

Register for this workshop here!