An instrument for assessing advanced nursing informatics competencies

Abstract

Background/Objective: Researchers set out to develop reliable, valid instruments for nurses to self-assess nursing informatics (NI) competencies at the basic and advanced levels. The focus of the research presented in this article is measurement of competencies at the advanced level, which includes Level 3, the informatics specialist and Level 4, the informatics innovator. Informatics competencies are critical in the technology-rich healthcare delivery system. Nurse leaders experienced in informatics need to be prepared to consistently mentor nurses to use health information technology (HIT) in ways that foster continual growth in nursing informatics competencies. This article addresses the research problem, the concept of competency, previous work on NI assessment, instrument development, and pilot results. Methods: Resulting items from round one and two were reworded to reflect measurable behaviors then subjected to a third round of reviews to establish content validity, using the content validity index (CVI). The Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment L3/L4 (NICA-L3/L4) © instrument development began with a synthesis of seminal and current literature. Participants were asked to rate themselves in one of the categories for each item: beginner or N/A, comfortable, proficient or expert. The NICA-L3/L4© instrument was piloted following Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval using a purposeful, convenience sample from the NI community. Results: For NICA-L3/L4©, the CVIs demonstrated strong content validity and the Chronbach's alpha showed high internal consistency. The initial data from both the Delphi and pilot studies indicated the need for self-assessment of NI competencies. Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that continued education in NI is necessary to reach the level of nurse innovator, a Level 4 competency. As the healthcare system continues to rely on electronic means of gathering, storing, and retrieving data, self-assessment of informatics competencies is key to providing a benchmark for the identification of skills that require further development.

Improving the informatics competency of critical care nurses: results of an interventional study in the southeast of Iran

“…To prepare and develop the workshop content, the researchers reviewed the literature to find necessary NI competencies for clinical nurses, and their educational needs in NI competency [ 4 , 12 – 14 , 30 – 32 ]. They discussed the extracted topics to achieve a consensus concerning goals, contents and teaching strategies.…”

Libyan Students' Academic Performance and Ranking in Nursing Informatics - Data Mining for Starter's

“…The challenge was to explore innovative tools that will equip nurses with appropriate skills in utilizing IT in the health care process [24]. The problem was even if the nursing students have the technology and they perceive themselves competent in using informatics in nursing, they still lack important resources to develop competencies in nursing informatics [25]. To address these concerns, understanding of the student and even faculty in information literacy can be cooked up to design and implement what the learners would be needing [1].…”

Advanced Informatics Competencies of Nurses at Sutter Maternity and Surgery

“…A strength of this study was using a highly reliable tool for assessing NI competencies, but a limitation of the tool was its length of 178 items. Recommendations for future informatics research included development of curricula by educators to expand Level 3 and level 4 nurses that would then continue to expand the profession of NI(Hill, McGonigle, Hunter, Sipes, & Hebda, 2014).Al-Hawamdih and colleagues (2017) conducted a descriptive survey study using a convenience sample of 99 RNs at a 400-bed public hospital. This study examined the relationship between NI competency and quality of documentation.…”

“…Innovator (L4) byHill et al in 2014. The lead authors and creators of the NICA tool at Chamberlain College granted permission for the use of the tool for this research.The NICA tool has 178 questions and consists of 4 parts: demographic questions (8) and the self-assessment consisting of: computer skills, 13 questions, informatics knowledge, 56 questions, and informatics skills, 109 questions.…”