The Psychometric Properties of Version 2 of the Canadian Nurse Informatics Competency Assessment Scale.

In 2020, we conducted a mixed methods study comprised of a cross-sectional survey in which we applied a modified version of the 21-item Canadian Nurse Informatics Competency Assessment Scale and one-on-one interviews to explore self-perceived nursing informatics competency and readiness for future digital health practice. A total of 221 senior-level students in BScN programs in western Canada participated. This article reports on results related to the factor structure and internal consistency reliability of the 26-item (version 2) of the Canadian Nurse Informatics Competency Assessment Scale. Exploratory principal component analysis with the varimax rotation revealed a four-component structure, explaining 55.10% of the variance. All items on the Canadian Nurse Informatics Competency Assessment Scale 2 had good loadings, except item 7, which did not load to any domain but was retained based on an evaluation of the α value and item relevance to nursing practice. A few items shifted to different domains. The overall reliability of the Canadian Nurse Informatics Competency Assessment Scale 2 was ( α = .916) and its subscales: information and knowledge management ( α = .814), professional and regulatory accountability ( α = .741), and use of information and communication technology ( α = .895). This study provided preliminary evidence for the factor structure and reliability of the Canadian Nurse Informatics Competency Assessment Scale 2 among nursing students. Further testing is recommended.

Are Future Nurses Ready for Digital Health?: Informatics Competency Baseline Assessment.

BACKGROUND: Research continues to show significant gaps in nursing graduates' preparedness in digital health. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore nursing students' self-perceived nursing informatics competency and preparedness in digital health, describe learning opportunities available, and identify perceived learning barriers and facilitators to developing informatics competency. METHODS: A sequential mixed-methods design, using a cross-sectional survey and interviews, was used. Senior undergraduate students (n = 221) in BScN programs in a Western Canadian Province participated. RESULTS: Participants self-reported being somewhat competent in nursing informatics. Three themes were identified: struggling to make sense of informatics nursing practice; learning experiences; and preparedness for future practice. CONCLUSION: Addressing inconsistencies in informatics education is an urgent priority so that nursing graduates are competent upon joining the workforce. Implications for nursing education, practice, and policy are discussed.

Are You Culturally Competent?

The practice of nursing today demands that the nurse identify and meet the cultural needs of diverse groups, understand the social and cultural reality of the client, family, and community, develop expertise to implement culturally acceptable strategies to provide nursing care, and identify and use resources acceptable to the client (Andrews and Boyle 2002).

Who Will Be Culpable?

A registered nurse of questionable professional competence, with a dodgy employment record, a history of mental illness and substance abuse, remains employed and ultimately murders eight vulnerable seniors, attempts to murder four others, and assaults another two over the course of a decade. At least those are the ones for which Elizabeth Wettlaufer offered a confession. Like most nurses and citizens, I was horrified by the revelation of multiple homicides at the hand of one of us. How could such a confluence of incompetence, mental illness and addiction, and willful murder go undetected for so long by so many?

The Evaluation Imperative.

With the advent of wide scale adoption and use of clinical information systems and other technologies to support the delivery of healthcare services, the inclusion of iterative evaluation is an often overlooked but important component of project management. In this paper, it is proffered that the evaluation process should be an imperative and initiated at the outset of the design and implementation of clinical information systems including any single component of hardware or software. Ideally, methods of evaluation should be multi-faceted, include formative and summative evaluation approaches and include a range of metrics that will provide organizations with insight to process and technology efficiency and effectiveness as well as human and financial impacts.

Show me the way to stay home.

As the health system continues to evolve through the implementation of the electronic health record and other information technology initiatives, it is imperative that governments undergo a paradigm shift and recognize the need for strategic investment in home care (CHCA 2008a:7).