Date of Conferral

2015

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Joan Moon

Abstract

Nursing workforce competency in informatics is crucial to providing safe patient care, improving quality, and reducing healthcare costs. Assurance of informatics competency in a workforce with increasingly diverse educational preparations, demographics, and informatics skills poses significant challenges. The question addressed was the lack of nursing informatics competency assessment tool relevant to bedside nursing. The purpose of this project was to develop and review a new nursing informatics competency assessment tool designed to address the individual educational needs of newly hired nurses. The tool was designed to measure nurses' competency in computer literacy, informatics literacy, and informatics management skills recommended in the American Nurses Association's Standards and Scope of Practice and Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform. This tool supports practices at the bedside by providing individualized education according to the results of a self-assessment. The project was guided by the Benner's model and the Rosswurm and Larrabee framework. Content validity was established by item analysis, relevancy scale, and validation by the identified experts from the organization's Nursing Informatics Department (n = 4); the Department of Education, Practice, and Research (n =8); the Clinical Outcomes Department (n = 1); and bedside nurses (n = 14). The administration recommended this tool be incorporated into its strategic plan. This project promoted positive social change by developing a tool to assess informatics competencies in newly hired nurses and guide educators in developing future educational strategies. These efforts will assist in creating a workforce that is prepared to deliver healthcare safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively in the increasingly technology-savvy environment of U.S. healthcare in the 21st century.

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