Essay on Nursing Informatics Competencies

According to the Scope and Standards of Practice (2008) of the American Nurses Associations Nursing Informatics, an Informatics Nurse is defined as a nurse who has general informatics experience but fails to have the graduate level education in the informatics subject (ANA, 2015). For this reason, in my professional responsibilities, informatics plays a crucial role. For instance, while in my professional practice, informatics, which is in the form of electronic documentation, plays a vital role in the sense that, it eases the identification of changes in the patient status due to the access of readily available information. Thus, informatics plays the role of secure access to patient information which in turn helps to formalize an appropriate plan of action (Rahman, 2015).

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Personal Gaps in skills and knowledge

1. Minor usability problems

2. Gaps in integration of computer systems and software

A plan for self-improvement

The following are the two most relevant Functional Areas, in the Nursing Informatics scope of standards; and that relate to my current nursing responsibilities

Functional Areas Relating My Nursing Responsibilities

i. Consultation

As an informatics nurse, the functional consultation area is relevant to my current nursing responsibilities in the sense that, I am regularly required to apply general informatics knowledge and skills which I intend to serve as a resource to the patient at both the internal and external setting. For this reason, this functional area is most relevant to my current professional practice.

ii. Development

Generally, the nursing practice and profession is expected to adhere to various National standards as well as the ethical and regulatory constraints (Stevens, 2010). For this reason, the development functionality area is most applicable to my current professional responsibility. This is because, it is in this area that the international standard requirements are addressed, and it is no doubt that an understanding of the current work on standards is mandatory for the nursing profession (Schleyer, Burch, & Schoessler, 2010).

In relation to the TIGER Initiative Recommended competencies, the Nursing Information Management competency is one that is most applicable to the above-mentioned functional areas, and in which I need to strengthen my abilities (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015).

Concerning my self-improvement plan, there are various ways in which the development of nursing informatics competencies would increase my effectiveness as a nurse. Firstly, with the knowledge and skills in the nursing information management competency, would improve and act as a bridge to link my understanding of the theoretical concepts and the real world informatics environment. With this, I will be in a position to optimize my patient care and improve the overall wellbeing of the patients.

To achieve this, I would make use of various resources available to me in the organization such as the American Nurse Association Nursing Journals which give detailed information about the competencies and the currents nursing and international standards.

References

American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing informatics: Scope and standards of practice(2). Retrieved from American Nurses Association website: http://nursingworld.org/functionalmenucategories/aboutana/leadership-governance/newcnpe/cnpemembersonly/pastmeetings/september2007/nursingscopestandardsdraft.pdf

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Rahman, A. A. (2015). Development of a Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment Tool (NICAT). Retrieved from Walden University website: http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2849&context=dissertations

Schleyer, R. H., Burch, C. K., & Schoessler, M. T. (2010). Defining and Integrating Informatics Competencies Into a Hospital Nursing Department. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 29(3), 167-173. doi:10.1097/ncn.0b013e3181f9db36

Stevens, M. (2010, May 29). Nurses as Power Users: The Role of Nursing Informatics in Health IT is Growing | Clinical Innovation + Technology. Retrieved from http://www.clinical-innovation.com/topics/clinical-practice/nurses-power-users-role-nursing-informatics-health-it-growing