Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper

Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper

NURS 6051 Week 2 Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies

Week 2 Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies

Today’s fast-paced health care environment demands nurses to be skilled not only in their clinical practice or specialty area but in the use of technology tools that improve practice and lead to better patient care. Basic and advanced technology competencies are required and expected as technology increasingly touches and changes the job of every nurse. Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper. Numerous organizations, including the American Nurses Association (ANA), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), have developed nurse-specific technology competencies. The challenge for nurses is to identify both needs and training opportunities.

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In this Discussion, you identify the role informatics plays in your professional responsibilities. You pinpoint personal gaps in skills and knowledge and then develop a plan for self-improvement.

To prepare for Week 2 Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies:

• Review Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice in this week’s Learning Resources, focusing on the different functional areas it describes. Consider which areas relate to your current nursing responsibilities or to a position you held in the past. For this Discussion, identify one or two of the most relevant functional areas.Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper.
• Review the list of competencies recommended by the TIGER Initiative. Identify at least one skill in each of the main areas (basic computer competencies, information literacy competencies, and information management competencies) that is pertinent to your functional area(s) and in which you need to strengthen your abilities. Consider how you could improve your skills in these areas and the resources within your organization that might provide training and support Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper.

By Day 3 of Week 2 Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies

• Post the key functional area(s) of nursing informatics relevant to your current position or to a position you recently held, and briefly describe why this area(s) is relevant. Identify the TIGER competencies you selected as essential to your functional area(s) in which you need improvement. Describe why these competencies are necessary and outline a plan for developing these competencies. Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper. Include any resources that are available to you within your organization and the ways you might access those resources. Assess how developing nursing informatics competencies would increase your effectiveness as a nurse.
• Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6 of Week 2 Discussion: Nursing Informatics Competencies

• Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using the following approach: Assume the role of a consultant. Respond to your colleagues as someone who can offer advice on improving their skills on the competencies they identified as needing improvement Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper.

NURS 6051 Week 11 Discussion: Health Literacy

In order to effectively manage their own health, individuals need to have competencies in two areas—basic literacy and basic health literacy. What is the difference? Basic literacy refers to the ability to read, even simple language. Health literacy is defined as, “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (National Coalition for Literacy, 2009). Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper. Unfortunately, according to a Department of Education report on health literacy, only 12% of adults aged 16 and older are considered to have a proficient level of health literacy (U.S. Department of Education, 2006). Acquiring health literacy skills has become more complicated with the explosion of online health information, some credible and some misleading.

In this Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper, you focus on how to help individuals find credible information on the Internet and develop strategies nurses can use to increase the health literacy of their patients.

To prepare:

• Think about the nurse’s role in improving the health literacy of patients.
• Consider the many ways patients access health information, including blogs, social media, patient portals, websites, etc.
• Reflect on experiences you have had with patients who self-diagnose using online medical sources.
• Using the Internet, the Walden Library, or other trustworthy sources, identify a resource that you could introduce to patients to help them evaluate the credibility of health information found online.
• What are some strategies you could employ to improve the health literacy of patients? Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper.

By Day 3

Post your assessment of the nurse’s role in improving the health literacy of patients. Then, identify the resource you would recommend to patients for evaluating online health information and why it would be beneficial. Describe additional strategies for assisting patients in becoming informed consumers of online health information.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:

• Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence or research.
• Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
• Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
• Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
• Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
• Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper.

NURS 6051 Week 10 Discussion: Security of Health Care Records

With the increase of health information technology used to store and access patient information, the likelihood of security breaches has also risen. In fact, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ):

In the United States, there was a whopping 97% increase in the number of health records breached from 2010 to 2011… The number of patient records accessed in each breach has also increased substantially, from 26,968 (in 2010) to 49,394 (in 2011). Since August 2009, when the US government regulated that any breach affecting more than 500 patients be publicly disclosed, a total of 385 breaches, involving more than 19 million records, have been reported to the Department of Health and Human Services.

A large portion of those breaches, 39%, occurred because of a lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised portable electronic device—a problem that will likely only get worse as iPads, smartphones, and other gadgets become more common in hospitals. (CMAJ, 2012, p. E215). Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper.

Consider your own experiences. Does your organization use portable electronic devices? What safeguards are in place to ensure the security of data and patient information? For this Discussion you consider ethical and security issues surrounding the protection of digital health information.

To prepare:

Review the Learning Resources dealing with the security of digital health care information. Reflect on your own organization or one with which you are familiar, and think about how health information stored electronically is protected.

Consider the nurse’s responsibility to ensure the protection of patient information. What strategies can you use?

Reflect on ethical issues that are likely to arise with the increased access to newer, smaller, and more powerful technology tools.

Consider strategies that can be implemented to ensure that the use of HIT contributes to an overall culture of safety Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper.

By Day 3

Post an analysis of the nurse’s responsibility to protect patient information and the extent that HIT has made it easier or more difficult to protect patient privacy. Comment on any security or ethical issues related to the use of portable devices to store information. Assess the strategies your organization uses to safeguard patient information and how these promote a culture of safety. Describe an area where improvement is needed and one strategy that could address the situation. Nursing Informatics Competencies Essay Assignment discussion paper/

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:

• Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence or research.
• Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
• Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
• Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
• Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
• Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.