Nursing Informatics Competency

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, 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.
Essay on 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.