Big data: a concept in nursing discipline

Abstract

Background: Big data is an important concept for the caring disciplines, such as nursing, and medicine, the rapid development of technology has made massive volumes of data available and achievable anytime and anywhere around the world.

Methods: The Morse et al. (1996) criteria for concept maturity were used as a framework. A literature review of the big data concept was undertaken to evaluate the logical, epistemological, linguistic, and pragmatic principles. Big data literature was retrieved by searching the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MEDLINE, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Search terms used were big data, big data analysis, big data and nursing, and data science.

Conclusion: Big Data has recently become a popular term among researchers and IT professionals as well as health professionals. Even though the concept meaning is still unclear, but it holds great promise to enhance healthcare quality. Despite that, the concept of big data has been attracting the attention of scholars in the nursing discipline; the lack of a unified definition of the concept limits the use of big data in nursing research. With all its complexity, the concept becoming increasingly more prevalent and affects how nurses learn, practice, conduct research, and develop policy. Consistently defining the concept can help the nurses to prevent, diagnose, and treat health-related issues and enhance healthcare quality