Evaluation of nursing students’ informatics competency using an adapted Self-Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competency Scale (SANICS) tool
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Date
2015-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
The goal and purpose of this study is to analyze the self-reported informatics competency of students at various academic levels and compare differences between those who have not and those that have taken a nursing informatics course during their academic programs. Due to the growing use of technology and shift to electronic health records, informatics competency is becoming a needed skill and requirement in the nursing profession. Studies show that integration of technology in the patient setting improves quality of care and patient safety. A review of the literature shows that very few tools measure nursing student informatics competency at an undergraduate or graduate level, before they enter into their careers. Recommendations from the TIGER initiative define informatics competency but do not adequately measure nursing students’ competency. In order to understand whether nursing students are competent in clinical informatics, a descriptive comparative study was conducted. A voluntary sample of 1,535 possible Ohio State University College of Nursing participants were asked to participate in the study. The subjects were emailed a link that lead to an adapted SANICS tool with a 44-item scale and demographics survey to measure student’s personal knowledge and understanding of nursing informatics. The tool was sent out to undergraduate and graduate students. The results of this study indicate that students whom have taken an informatics course statistically report an overall higher mean competency than students whom have never taken an informatics course (p=.048). Further studies using this tool, or tools like it, can lead to evaluation of the need for informatics courses in nursing curriculum.
Description
3rd Place at the 2015 Denman Research Forum
Keywords
nursing informatics, SANICS, TIGER, nursing informatics competency