How do practice pattern profiling and nursing-sensitive patient outcomes research relate to one ...

ANS: B, C, F
A nursing-sensitive patient outcome is sensitive because it is influenced by nursing care decisions and actions. It may not be caused by nursing, but is associated with nursing. Practice pattern profiling is an epidemiological technique that focuses on patterns of care rather than individual occurrences of care. Researchers use large database analysis to identify a provider's pattern of practice and compare it with that of similar providers or with an accepted standard of practice. The technique has been used to determine overutilization and underutilization of services, to examine costs associated with a particular provider's care, to uncover problems related to efficiency and quality of care, and to assess provider performance. Both use existent databases as data sources, a majority of the time.