Center for Computational Nursing

The Center for Computational Nursing is affiliated with the Institute for Nursing Knowledge in The University of Iowa College of Nursing. David Reed is the Director of the Center, which has a restricted-access advanced computing laboratory physically separate from the other, extensive computer resources available to faculty, staff, and students. The laboratory contains a network of five computers, four of which have 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 processers and 1 GB of memory. These computers are loaded with a variety of software, including:

• Multipurpose statistical software (SPSS)
• Data mining software (Weka, Rosetta, Autoclass),
• Qualitative data analysis software (NVivo).
• Informatics software (RELMA, LOINC, MDS, SNOWMED)
• Programming language software (Perl, Java)
• SQL server software (Microsoft SQL Server)
• Web page/HTML editing software (Dreamweaver)
• Microsoft Office (Access, Excel, Word, Powerpoint)
• Productivity software (Microsoft Project, programming editor)

One of the computers is also equipped with Internet videoconferencing hardware and software (Polycom)

The laboratory is housed in a 20 by 20 foot room with access restricted by electronic key card, requiring approval of the Center Director. Additional access restriction is provided by password protection of the computers.

The advanced computing laboratory offers opportunities for students to learn specialized software and apply it to nursing research using existing databases.

The Database Repository in the Laboratory for Advanced Computing in Nursing

The Database Repository is a major new undertaking for the Laboratory for Advanced Computing in Nursing. This repository brings existing database resources together with essential data management tools, sophisticated statistical software, and documentation to facilitate the use of the databases by entry-level researchers, junior faculty, as well as senior-level scientists.

Because databases using standardized nursing languages are emphasized, the Database Repository facilitates studies of nursing interventions effectiveness research and outcomes research. This, in turn, promotes awareness of the benefits of including standardized nursing languages in both clinical and research databases.

The development of a Database Repository serves many purposes:

• Training: The Database Repository is a useful reference tool for training new investigators. By supplying a ready resource of sample databases, entry-level faculty, fellows, and other researchers have a tangible archive where they may see various examples of database structures, download data, and then "learn by doing." The Database Repository supplies a list of sample databases and online resources as well as documentation to facilitate the understanding and use of a wide variety of data resources. This documentation includes descriptions of database formats as well as the standardized language for nursing interventions and outcomes research.
• Consultation and Statistical Support : The Database Repository also serves as a tool that consultants and methodologists can employ when working with nurse researchers. The consultants are able to refer researchers to examples and resources so they may learn more about specific data methods and the GNIRC consultants may also save the solutions and cases they work on and add them to the documentation.
• Research Support: The repository makes available an easily accessible, inexpensive resource for use by a wide variety of nurse researchers. It brings in datasets from many disciplines: nursing, public health, social work, psychology, sociology, and medicine.
• Collaboration: The general outgrowth of the Database Repository is to foster increased collaboration and promote the efficient use of existing resources. By developing more standardized data formats and research terminology, the Database Repository facilitates the inter-disciplinary research initiatives which are so important.

The overall purpose of the Database Repository is to bring together new datasets and existing archives in a central repository to allow a more efficient use of data resources. The Database Repository is not meant to replace such resources as the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) or the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), but provide specialized archives related to didactic programs at the University of Iowa College of Nursing and at other universities linked together through the Gerontological Nursing Interventions Research Center (GNIRC). Because Database Repository project is a joint effort of the Laboratory for Advanced Computing in Nursing and the GNIRC, most of the databases have data on older adults, but the principal datasets include data for adults of all ages.

Variable definitions and value labels are integrated into the databases. Each database is accompanied by documentation providing an overview of the study, a list of known publications based on the dataset, and a list of the known limitations of the dataset, such as missing data for a specific period.