Answer

Nursing Informatics Self-Assessment

                Nursing informatics refers to the IT application in the accomplishment of nursing duties inclusive of the management and practice and education. The nursing informatics specialist competency was determined through three fundamental categories such as informatics knowledge, computer skills and informatics skills. The levels of knowledge can be further investigated as depicted by the experience level of the nurse such as expert, proficient, competent and novice (Darvish, Bahramnezhad, Keyhanian & Navidhamidi, 2015). Nursing informatics is important since it provides an indication that the nurses are strongly integrated within the field of IT to ensure the successful improvement of the quality of care outcome (Darvish et al., 2015). The aim of this paper is to explore the case of nursing informatics after completing an online survey gauging my level of competency in the field.

POST-Titanic Self-Assessment Survey Results

                Informatics is an important factor within the field of nursing. Evidently, the use of nursing informatics in the field of nursing has provided the nurses with the ability to properly handle patient details and hence improve their satisfaction rate (Kerfoot, 2015). The POST-Titanic Self-Assessment Survey results generated after completing the survey is desirable. Notably, I can see an improvement in my competency level in comparison to the survey completed during Week 2. Evidently, during the second week, my perceived level of competency was either expert or competent for at least 90% of the responses. During the second week, I only recorded 10% of my responses being under the “competent” category. However, in the current week 7 survey, I have recorded a significant improvement with 98% of my responses being under the “expert” category with only 2% being under the “proficient” category. With the positive changes in the survey findings, I can confidently derive that I am improving my competency level in the nursing informatics field and indeed I am proud of my learning experience.

Competencies to benefit me in my Future Role

                In the future, I plan to advance in the nursing profession and become an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN). Informatics knowledge and the computer skills competencies are the fundamental competencies which I must score highly to effectively implement within my future role as an APN. Evidently, APNs have the responsibility of dealing with critical care cases in the health care environment such as the increased chronic disease cases and hence the increased demand for the health care services. This provides an indication that the APNs should be at the forefront of ensuring that health information technology is utilized effectively to promote the safety of the patients and the quality of the care administered for a successful outcome (Susan & Mari, 2018). The fact that the APNs constantly utilize technology to fulfill their daily roles and functionality in the healthcare field suggests that a professional in this field must be competent when it comes to the computer skills competencies. Since I will be interacting with the use of computers on a daily basis suggests that I should be an expert in performing the basic computer functions such as turning on the computer, setting passwords creating unique folders and moving files among others.

Additionally, nursing informatics knowledge is also critical for APNs. (Susan & Mari, 2018) mention that APNs have the role of engaging in data analytics and reporting to aid in the process of patient decision making process. Nursing informatics has proven to be effective in offering support to the clinical decision support systems. Therefore, to effectively accomplish this role, I must record a high level of competency in informatics knowledge, since I will be required to utilize existing technologies in nursing practice and also use emerging technologies to support care for the elderly and the chronically-ill patients. The informatics knowledge which I must have includes ergonomics, systems usability, ethical and legal concerns related with the use of informatics in nursing practice and the associated impact in nursing practice (Kerfoot, 2015).

Competencies Achieved in the Course

                Health care providers have a duty to remain competent in informatics to ensure that they make ethical decisions about the technologies and healthcare data as well as information which they plan to use. To ensure consistency and quality, the healthcare professions should possess several competencies which are critical to their roles in the field of practice. Despite the fact that I already had requisite knowledge and skills about basic computer technology manipulation when enrolling for the course, I had the chance to learn about the informatics skill and informatics knowledge which are also the 2 basic competencies which I have achieved in the course. Evidently, first I did not understand that nursing data can be effective in improving practice and that computers can be used to formulate ethical decisions which influence patient outcomes. However, this is a factor which I have mastered through the course hence enhancing my informatics knowledge competency. On the informatics skills competency, I learned how to prepare process information flow charts and include different clinical system elements, an aspect which I did not know how to accomplish before enrolling for the course.