Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Paper

Consider how you could improve your skills in these areas, and identify resources within your organization as well as external resources that could be used to develop nursing informatics competencies.
• Review the AWE Checklist (2000/3000 Level).
• Find one scholarly resource to inform your self-evaluation and/or plan.
• Use the Self-Assessment Paper template from this week’s Resources. No abstract or reference list is required for the AWE Checklist.
• Submit the TANIC © survey to the Week 2 designated assignment area. Assignment: Self-Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies.
Submit a 2-3-page, double-spaced paper that addresses the following:
• Provide a brief overview of the TANIC © tool, and your strengths and weaknesses as outlined in your self-assessment.
• Choose at least one skill that is pertinent to your current position or future goals in which you need to strengthen your abilities for each of the three main areas (basic computer competencies, information literacy competencies, and information management competencies). Assignment: Self-Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies.
• Outline a brief plan for developing these competencies. In your plan, identify resources that can assist and are available to you within your organization or one with which you are familiar. Identify any external resources, and explain how these resources are relevant to your current practice and/or future goals.
• Analyze how developing nursing informatics competencies contributes to your effectiveness as a nurse.
Note: This assignment is a self-assessment and can be written in the first person. Include a minimum of three resources from the professional nursing literature in the assigned course readings (include the TANIC© tool as a reference), other references in the Walden Library or relevant professional web sites. Assignment: Self-Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies.

Self-assessment of nursing informatics competencies

Self-assessment is a tool applied in career planning to help with making better and well informed career progression decisions. Although perceived as a test, a self-assessment is not really a test as there are no right or wrong answers, or desired outcomes. Rather, it collects information about aptitudes, personality types, interests, and work-related values. Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Paper  This information is useful in identifying the areas of weakness with respect to the desired career and targeting these areas for improvement (Joel, 2018). Nursing informatics is a career option that shifts away from the general nursing responsibilities. In fact, it focuses on leveraging technology to make sense of cumbersome medical data and translate it into opportunities for health care improvement. Individuals pursuing a career in nursing informatics must have the necessary competencies in order to comfortably navigate the associated work responsibilities (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). The present paper evaluates the results of a self-assessment using TANIC© to identify shortcomings in nursing informatics competencies and strategies for addressing them.

Self-Assessments

The self-assessment was conducted using TANIC© to explore nursing informatics competency levels. The self-assessment tool (TANIC©) focuses on three competency domains. The first competency domain is basic computer competencies with a focus on computer literacy. A review of the self-assessment results in this domain reveals the capability to complete critical administrative tasks. That is because of proficiency in data entry and typing skills with good accuracy and speed levels. Also, the self-assessment tool reveals proficiency in operating system basics knowledge. This included the management and control of the basic functions of computers and smart devices such as how to locate and open files and documents. Additionally, the self-assessment tool reveals web browsing proficiency with the ability to interact with the internet and websites (Hunter et al., 2015).

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The second competency domain is information management competencies. The self-assessment tool reveals proficiency in information management. It exposes a general awareness of information management tasks to include codification, content management, information processes, taxonomies, and information technology applications. Also, it reveals an awareness of communication, interpersonal, thinking and learning skills (Hunter et al., 2015).

The third competency domain is information literacy competencies. The self-assessment tool reveals a comfortable level of use. It shows the ability to combine attitudes, skills and knowledge to recognize when and why information needs are lacking. Also, there is a limited ability to manage information, particularly the recognition, synthesis and application, as well as ethical and legal communication and use of information. There is basic knowledge of information articulation, use of search tools to access information, evaluating information relevance, and determining the quality and usefulness of information (Hunter et al., 2015).

Skill Strengthening Plan

The self-assessment reveals proficiency competency levels in the first two domains, and comfortable competency level in the third domain. However, completing nursing informatics tasks requires expert competency levels in all three domains. This implies that there is a need to improve competency levels in all three domains to achieve the required expert competency levels. Towards this end, a skill strengthening plan has been developed. The plan is targeted at improving information technology and management knowledge, skills and experiences. The first part of the plan is to practice and compete nursing informatics tasks. Practice and repeated use of informatics skills in practical settings creates familiarity that improves the adeptness and aptitude of using these skills. Also, it helps with learning new nursing informatics skills. The second part of the plan is to attend training to address the identified competencies shortcomings. Training through informal and formal approach is expected to apply a structured approach in improving knowledge and skill levels, and introducing new concepts (Sanwick, Forrest & O’Brien, 2019).

Through applying the plan and strengthening nursing informatics competencies, there is an expectation of improving personal value and relevance in the professional nursing informatics work environment. Also, the plan is expected to improve the ability to improve health care coordination, enhance patient outcomes, and better manage workflows.

Analysis of the Implications of Technology on Nursing Effectiveness

Technology has a profound effect on nurse effectiveness. Technology presents communication and information management capabilities that enable nurses to evaluate and make sense of the large medical data. This allows them to reduce medical errors and associated costs even as patient risks are limited and care quality enhanced. Additionally, technology creates protocols and processes that enhance care continuity and end-to-end treatment through improving communication. Also, technology leverages data to improve nursing procedures, policies, protocols and processes while aligning work flow and care delivery with best practices (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). As such, technology improves nursing effectiveness.

Conclusion

Self-assessment is an opportunity to identity personal capabilities and deficiencies. TANIC© presents an opportunity to conduct a self-assessment in information technology capabilities with a focus on three competency domains: basic computer domain; information management domain; and information literacy domains. With the highest achievable level of proficiency in the three domains being expert level, self-assessment results that are less than expert proficiency level offer an opportunity for improvement. A skill strengthening plan allows for the improvement through engaging in practice and education. Besides that, improved proficiency with technology would improve nursing effectiveness by enhancing quality of care, limiting patient risks, improving nursing approaches, and health care outcomes.

References

Hunter K., McGonigle D., Hebda T., Sipes C., Hill T. & Lamblin J. (2015) TIGER-Based Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies (TANIC). In: Rocha A., Correia A., Costanzo S., Reis L. (eds) New Contributions in Information Systems and Technologies. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 353. Cham: Springer.

Joel, L. (2018). Advanced practice nursing: essentials for role development (4^th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company.

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4^th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Sanwick, T., Forrest, K. & O’Brien, B. (2019). Understanding medical education: evidence, theory and practice (3^rd ed.). Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Paper