ANA Informatics Competencies in Practice
In the next 2-week module, you explore the American Nurses Association functional areas of nursing informatics to focus on a specific area of informatics. You also take on a competency mindset by applying competencies to the nurse informaticist role and interviewing a nurse informaticist to consider how competencies affect real-world practice.
Looking Ahead: Week 8 Discussion
In the Week 8 Discussion, you are required to research one article in the Library related to American Nurses Association functional areas.
You are also required to be familiar with the Module 4 Assignment in Week 9 for this Discussion.
You are strongly encouraged to review as early as possible the Week 8 Discussion.
Looking Ahead: Module 4 Assignment in Week 9
In the Module 4 Assignment, due in 2 weeks in Week 9, you are required to conduct an interview with a nurse informaticist. You are required to find an interview subject, arrange for an interview, conduct the interview, and complete the Assignment by Day 7 of Week 9.
You are strongly encouraged to review the Module 4 Assignment found in Week 9, including the Module 4 Interview Guidelines handout that contains important information about how to arrange an interview, tips for conducting the interview, and other requirements related to the interview itself.
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ANA Informatics Competencies in Practice
How do you define competency and then measure it? What’s more, how does a nurse informaticist maintain competency in the rapidly changing world of informatics and healthcare?
Recall the last time you purchased a new piece of technology. Did it come with instructions? Advances in technology have evolved to the point where most users are expected to apply previous knowledge with instinct and experimentation to figure out how to navigate common interfaces.
The technology applied in the healthcare environment evolves as rapidly—and may even mirror the user interfaces of other common technologies. But with safe patient care at the forefront of all nursing practice, the concept of “learn as you go” with new technology has much higher stakes.
Thus, the rapid change and implementation of electronic health records makes the development of competency critical for correctly implementing patient care. One way to maintain this ongoing competency is through standards of practice. Through standards and competencies developed by professional organizations, nurse informaticists and other healthcare professionals can ensure that safe, patient-centered care is the focus at all steps in the adaptation and evolution of technology.
What’s Happening This Module?
Module 4: ANA Informatics Competencies in Practice is a 2-week module. In Week 8, you explore the American Nurses Association functional areas of nursing informatics to focus on a specific area of informatics. In Week 9, you take on a competency mindset by applying competencies to the nurse informaticist role and interviewing a nurse informaticist to consider how competencies affect real-world practice.
Week 8: American Nurses Association Functional Areas
Nurse informaticists “bring the perspectives of nursing, and very often the patients, to interprofessional work through a solid understanding of operational processes and the value of consumer advocacy to informatics functions” (2015, American Nurses Association, p. 18).
Interprofessional is a key term in understanding the role of the nurse informaticist, who brings an interconnected understanding of the needs of many stakeholders to technological solutions for better healthcare. Because of this overlap, it may be difficult to focus on a specific role—instead, an informatics nurse focuses on key areas in which to drive improvement and efficiency. This week, you examine these roles and choose one of focus.
Reference
American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author.
Required readings:
McBride, S., & Tietze, M. (2019). Nursing informatics for the advanced practice nurse: Patient safety, quality, outcomes, and interprofessionalism (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
- Chapter 24, “Developing Competencies in Nursing for an Electronic Age of Healthcare” (pp. 588–607)
American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author.
Competencies for Nurse Informaticists Program Transcript.pdf
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Discussion: Annotated Bibliography for American Nurses Association (ANA) Functional Areas
After reviewing the Functional Areas of Nursing Informatics in the Resources this week, you may have a clearer concept of how you, as a professional, might envision yourself in a nurse informaticist role. In this Discussion, you identify a functional area that appeals to you and then research to learn more about that role in practice.
- Research in the Library to find one peer-reviewed article related to an ANA functional area that you would like to further develop as a nurse informaticist.
- The Library recommends the following:
- Navigate to the Nursing Research databases in the Library.
- Select a database with which to start. You can try more than one.
- Perform a basic search with one of the functional areas that are listed in the text. You don’t necessarily need to use the exact wording of the functional areas. For example, “Development of Systems, Products, and Resources” might be expressed as “systems development.” Look at your initial results to see if the wording fits your topic.
- Add a second concept in Box 2 to focus your search. It helps to keep concepts separate, especially when multiple boxes are provided. Try: informatics.
- Refine your results depending on what you find. Don’t be afraid to try alternate words or combinations of words to get a sizeable hit list, then you can apply limits.
- To apply limits, scroll down in the left column to limit by date (last 5 years) and limit the results to peer-reviewed scholarly journals only. It helps to do this after you know you have performed a successful search and identified possible synonyms and sub-topics.
- Use the Annotated Biobibliography template in the Resources to write an annotated bibliography entry, focusing on how the chosen article applies to developing your functional area as a nurse informaticist.
Post your annotated bibliography entry directly in the Discussion thread (i.e., do not upload the Annotated Bibliography template). Your article analysis should focus on how the chosen article applies to further developing your functional area as a nurse informaticist. Then, explain how learning from the article might influence your questions for your Module Assignment interview. Be specific.
An Interview with a Nurse Informaticist
Interviewer: Greetings madam A. N. In your capacity as a nursing informaticist, to what degree do you feel skills in nursing as well as information technology, or other related disciplines are needed?
Nurse Informaticist: Thank you for inviting me to this interview. The one thing you have to acknowledge is that nursing informatics is interprofessional work (McBride & Tietze, 2022). In its simplest definition, this means that it is an integration of nursing knowledge and practice, on the one hand, and information technology. Therefore, yes, as a nursing informaticist, you need to demonstrate competencies in multiple disciplines with the key one being nursing.
Interviewer: focusing on competencies. Which specific competencies do you feel are needed for one to succeed as a nursing informaticist?
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Nurse Informaticist: Well, while it is debatable on the specific competencies – considering that different healthcare providers have different nursing needs hence informatics – there is no concrete standard but a few ones stand out. For starters, an understanding of databases is important for a nurse informaticist. In a health care setting, the database is structured in a particular way and it helps the informaticist to understand its components and various capabilities.
Interviewer: Thank you for the insight. Is that the one that stands out the most?
Nurse Informaticist: For the informaticist, it is naturally assumed technology and ICT are the core competence areas (American Nurses Association, 2015). Arguably, this is true but one must consider that since the role of nursing informatics is to alleviate performance in a healthcare setting, having a basic understanding of nurse competencies is a given. So, what does this mean? Precisely, this means that one must understand the nursing data in the database and the different ways it is used. It is upon the informaticist to identify nurse practitioners as they go about their work and try to identify areas that could be improved from time to time.
Interviewer: Does that, therefore, mean that the nurse informatics needs to take regular classes in nursing to effectively operate in a healthcare organization?
Nurse Informaticist: More or less yes but through experience but these competencies sometimes come with time. What I must add is that an informaticist, like registered nurses, should acknowledge that they deal with human lives and a degree of care and competence are a requirement (American Nurses Association, 2015). In view of this, the informaticist must demonstrate a keen awareness of the products offered. An innate comprehension of products helps them understand issues that emerge and resolve them with efficiency.
Annotated Bibliography
Seo, K., Min, Y. H., Choi, S. H., & Lee, H. (2019). Evaluation of the Korean version of the self-assessment of nursing informatics competencies scale. BMC nursing, 18(1), 1-9.
A group of South Korean scientists came together to conduct assessments on ways in which nurse informatics can help improve healthcare. The particular area of focus was nursing informatics competencies. The researchers have suggested that there are many changes taking place in nursing practice, especially as a result of emerging technologies requiring nurse practitioners to keep abreast with these technologies. In fact, it has been suggested that nursing students and practitioners should make it a habit to constantly take refreshers and new courses. The rationale for this is to ensure that they get increasingly acquainted with developments in informatics.
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The researchers, all from South Korea, emphasize the importance of Korean nurses adapting the Nursing Informatics Competencies Scale (SANICS) into Korean (K-SANICS). This implementation will benefit the nursing student’s learners and practitioners to actively learn existing and emerging issues in informatics.
References
American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author.
Chapter 24, “Developing Competencies in Nursing for an Electronic Age of Healthcare” (pp. 588–607)
McBride, S., & Tietze, M. (2022). Nursing informatics for the advanced practice nurse: patient safety, quality, outcomes, and interprofessionalism. Springer Publishing Company.
Seo, K., Min, Y. H., Choi, S. H., & Lee, H. (2019). Evaluation of the Korean version of the self-assessment of nursing informatics competencies scale. BMC nursing, 18(1), 1-9.