Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies
Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies
Question Description
BY DAY 3
Post the key functional area(s) of nursing informatics relevant to your current position or to a position this area(s) is relevant. Identify the TIGER competencies you selected as essential to your functional area(s) in which you need improvement. Describe why these competencies are necessary and outline a plan for developing these competencies. Include any resources that are available to you within your organization and the ways you might access those resources. Assess how developing nursing informatics competencies would increase your effectiveness as a nurse.
Week 2: Core Competencies and Scope of Practice in Nursing Informatics
The continued integration of information technology within the nursing profession is resulting in the development of nursing informatics as a distinct specialty. As with other specialty areas, nursing informatics has unique foundational documents, concepts, competencies, and functions. How might information technology competencies pertain to your professional practice?
This week focuses on the core competencies and scope and standards of practice in nursing informatics. If you are not specializing in nursing informatics, some functional areas will be more relevant to your professional role than others. Therefore, this week you will analyze the key functional areas of nursing informatics and consider competencies that would be useful in your professional role. In addition, you assess how information technology skills can improve nursing practice.
Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies
Today’s fast-paced health care environment demands nurses to be skilled not only in their clinical practice or specialty area but in the use of technology tools that improve practice and lead to better patient care. Basic and advanced technology competencies are required and expected as technology increasingly touches and changes the job of every nurse. Numerous organizations, including the American Nurses Association (ANA), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), have developed nurse-specific technology competencies. The challenge for nurses is to identify both needs and training opportunities.
In this Discussion, you identify the role informatics plays in your professional responsibilities. You pinpoint personal gaps in skills and knowledge and then develop a plan for self-improvement.
To prepare:
Review Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice in this week’s Learning Resources, focusing on the different functional areas it describes. Consider which areas relate to your current nursing responsibilities or to a position you held in the past. For this Discussion, identify one or two of the most relevant functional areas.
Review the list of competencies recommended by the TIGER Initiative. Identify at least one skill in each of the main areas (basic computer competencies, information literacy competencies, and information management competencies) that is pertinent to your functional area(s) and in which you need to strengthen your abilities. Consider how you could improve your skills in these areas and the resources within your organization that might provide training and support.
BY DAY 3
Post the key functional area(s) of nursing informatics relevant to your current position or to a position you recently held, and briefly describe why this area(s) is relevant. Identify the TIGER competencies you selected as essential to your functional area(s) in which you need improvement. Describe why these competencies are necessary and outline a plan for developing these competencies. Include any resources that are available to you within your organization and the ways you might access those resources. Assess how developing nursing informatics competencies would increase your effectiveness as a nurse.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Analyze the key functional areas of nursing informatics
Formulate a personal plan to improve health information technology competencies appropriate for your professional role
Assess how information technology skills can improve nursing practice
Photo Credit: [JGI/Tom Gril]/[Blend Images]/Getty Images
Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
REQUIRED READINGS
American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice(2nd ed.). Silver Springs, MD: Author.“Functional Areas for Nursing Informatics”This chapter describes the key functional areas of nursing informatics. It also clarifies the roles of informatics nurse specialists and informatics nurses.
“Informatics Competencies: Spanning Careers and Roles”This chapter details an informatics competencies matrix that has been developed by reviewing research. It outlines best practices for successful use of health information technology.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.Chapter 7, “Nursing Informatics as a Specialty”This chapter details the roles, competencies, and skills that ensure effective nursing informatics practice. The text also details the future of nursing informatics.
Wakefield, M. K. (2008). The Quality Chasm series: Implications for nursing. In R. G. Hughes (Ed.), Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses (Vol. 1, pp. 47–66). Rockville, MD: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2677/Pages 12–19This chapter discusses four of the Institute of Medicine’s reports on the quality and safety of health care. Specifically, the chapter focuses on the issues, concepts, findings, and recommendations of To Err Is Human, Crossing the Quality Chasm, Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality, and Quality Through Collaboration: The Future of Rural Health Care.
Cheeseman, S. E. (2011). Are you prepared for the digital era? Neonatal Network, 30(4), 263–266.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article explores the application of health information technology (HIT) in neonatal intensive care units. In addition, the article highlights national initiatives advocating for the implementation of HIT throughout the health care delivery system.
AMIA. (2012). AMIA. Retrieved from http://www.amia.org/
This homepage of AMIA (formerly known as the American Medical Informatics Association) details the activities of the AMIA, including its publications, programs, events, and policies.
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. (2012a). Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Retrieved from http://www.himss.org/
This homepage of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society displays research conducted by HIMSS and introduces various tools, events, and resources for professional development.
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.(2012b). Resources/reports. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20151108084347/http://www.thetigerinitiative.org/resources.aspx
This page of the TIGER website contains a list of resources and reports related to the development and implementation of technology informatics.
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.(2012c). The TIGER initiative. Retrieved from http://www.thetigerinitiative.org/
This site includes information on the phases of the TIGER Initiative and includes related resources and reports, opportunities for strategic partnerships, and general information about TIGER.
Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform. (2009). TIGER informatics competencies collaborative final report. Retrieved from http://tigercompetencies.pbworks.com/f/TICC_Final.pdf
This text details foundational informatics competencies that nurses should possess in order to meet standards of providing safe, quality, and competent care. In particular, this article specifies requirements for nurses in the areas of basic computer competencies, information literacy, and information management.
The TIGER Initiative. (2009). Informatics competencies for every practicing nurse: Recommendations from the TIGER collaborative. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20150323183938/http://thetigerinitiative.org/docs/TigerReport_InformaticsCompetencies_001.pdf
This report supplies the findings and recommendations of the Informatics Competencies Collaborative Team. The text describes the background, methodology, findings, and recommendations for future work as stated by the team.
Quality and Safety Education for Nurses. (2012). Quality and Safety Education for Nurses. Retrieved from http://www.qsen.org/
This homepage supplies information on quality and safety competencies, teaching strategies, faculty resources, pilot schools, and QSEN Consultants.
REQUIRED MEDIA
Laureate Education (Producer). (2012d). Health information technology competencies. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 10 minutes.
This video features interviews of Katie Skelton, Doris Fischer, Carina Perez, Shannon Mori, and Carmen Ferrell. They explain key skills and competencies that will allow nurses to capitalize on the benefits of health information technology in the health care setting.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
- Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
- Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
- One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
- I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
- Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
- In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
- Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
- Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
- Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
- Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
- I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
- I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
- As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
- It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
- For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
- Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
- Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
- Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
- The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
- Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
- If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
- I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
- As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
- Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
- Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
- Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies
Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies
