Best Practices for Developing Specialty Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice.

Nursing specialization involves focusing on nursing practice in an identified specific area within the entire field of professional nursing. A defined specialty scope of practice statement and standards of professional practice, with accompanying competencies, are unique to each nursing specialty. These documents help assure continued understanding and recognition of nursing's diverse professional contributions. The purpose of this article is to demystify the process for specialty nurses who are creating or revising their specialty nursing scope and standards of practice. We provide best practices for the developmental process based on our recently published scope and standards of specialty nursing practice. The conclusion provides strategies to disseminate scope and standards documents to appropriate stakeholders.

Nursing informatics: scope and standards of practice.

The American Nurses Association published the third iteration of its nursing informatics scope and standards of practice in 2008. This work reflects the significant evolution of the specialty from the original scope of practice statement published in 1994 and the first nursing informatics standards of practice in 1995. Although the definition of nursing informatics remains essentially unchanged from that presented in 2001, the inclusion of "wisdom" reflects today's emerging mandate for evidence-based practice and decision support resources for the knowledge worker.

The Professional Association's Perspective on Nursing Informatics and Competencies in the US.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) recognized nursing informatics as a nursing specialty in 1992, developed the first scope and standards of nursing informatics practice in the mid-1990s, and remains the custodian and steward of each document revision. Over the past two decades, the definition of nursing informatics, scope of practice statement, and framework of the standards of practice have evolved to now include a collection of competencies for the informatics nurse and informatics nurse specialist. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), an ANA subsidiary, created and maintains a nursing informatics certification program that offers a board certification credential to qualified applicants, including international nurse colleagues. Such a certification program is intended to assess and publicly recognize competence of the informatics nurse.

Computer literacy study: report of qualitative findings.

Computer literacy and information literacy are critical to the future of nursing. The very nature of health care is being transformed in response to environmental drivers such as the demands for cost-effective delivery of high quality services and enhanced patient safety. Facilitating the quality transformation depends on strategic changes such as implementing evidence-based practice (), promoting outcome research (), initiating interdisciplinary care coordination [Zwarenstein, M., Bryant, W. (2004). Interventions to promote collaboration between nurses and doctors. The Cochrane Library(I)], and implementing electronic health records (). Information management serves as a central premise of each of these strategies and is an essential tool to facilitate change. This report of the analysis of qualitative data from a national online survey of baccalaureate nursing education programs describes the current level of integration of the computer literacy and information literacy skills and competencies of nursing faculty, clinicians, and students in the United States. The outcomes of the study are important to guide curriculum development in meeting the changing health care environmental demands for quality, cost-effectiveness, and safety.

Case study: A view of informatics nursing from a clinical nurse's perspective.

The Surgical Ambulatory Care Units at our large metropolitan hospital completed major redesign and renovation of the outpatient surgical clinic area. The design and architectural drawings were initiated in 2002 with the space finished and finally occupied in May 2005. An informatics nurse was not assigned to the project. The registered nurse manager for the nursing services in these surgical clinics found the lack of planning for informatics support and supplies for the clinic areas to be an impediment that prevented a smooth move into the new spaces and transition to new business processes. The absence in the existing clinical information system patient education documentation form of post surgical procedure teaching information created significant problems. The surgical clinic nurse requested assistance from the nursing informatics department to modify the form to include documentation of the patient education, a request due in part to fulfill the documentation requirements from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organization (JCAHO). Other issues needed the attention of an informatics nurse.

NI Continuing Education: Replicating a U.S. Model in Other Countries?

The need for nursing informatics continuing education is ongoing as informatics nurses and informatics nurse specialists are expected to be lifelong learners. This tutorial will explore how a very successful U.S. model, Weekend Immersion in Nursing Informatics (WINI), might be considered for replication in other countries. Details about the initial course design, presentation content outline, and sustainability will be shared. Participant input and discussion will be an integral component of this tutorial. The target audience includes informatics nurses, professional development and academic faculty, and those interprofessional informatics education programs.

Update: NI Scope and Standards of Practice, Competencies, and Certification.

The new 2015 ANA Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice, Second Edition, includes a slightly revised definition of nursing informatics, totally revised scope of practice statement, and updated standards and accompanying competencies. The competencies are now leveled for informatics nurses and informatics nurse specialists. This professional resource informs practice, education, research, administration, and the certification process. The presenters will provide details about the development of the latest NI scope and standards of practice and the contemporary ANCC certification process to stimulate group discussion and promote development of a personal action plan to integrate such content into nursing and informatics practice. The target audience includes all registered nurses, informatics nurses, informatics nurse specialists, faculty, and administrators.

Nursing informatics knowledge and competencies: a national survey of nursing education programs in the United States.

An online survey of deans/directors of 266 baccalaureate and higher nursing programs in the U.S. was developed by informatics expert nurses. Participants (1) identified nursing informatics (NI) competencies and knowledge of undergraduate and/or graduate students in their nursing programs; (2) determined faculty preparedness to teach NI and to use informatics tools; and (3) provided perceptions of NI requirements of local practicing nurses. Frequency data and qualitative responses were analyzed. Approximately half of undergraduate nursing programs were teaching information literacy skills and required students to enter with word-processing and email skills. Least visible informatics content at all levels included the use of information system data standards, the Nursing Information and Data Set Evaluation Center criteria, the unified medical language system (UMLS), and the nurse's role in the life cycle of an information system. Almost 50% of respondents perceived faculty as "novice" and "advanced beginners" in teaching and using NI applications. Participants reported no future plans to offer NI training in their region. Findings have major implications for nurse faculty, staff developers, and program administrators who are planning continuing education opportunities and designing nursing curricula that prepare nurses for use of the electronic health record and 21st century professional practice.

Nursing information technology knowledge, skills, and preparation of student nurses, nursing faculty, and clinicians: a U.S. survey.

Because health care delivery increasingly requires timely information for effective decision making, information technology must be integrated into nursing education curricula for all future nurse clinicians and educators. This article reports findings from an online survey of deans and directors of 266 baccalaureate and higher nursing programs in the United States. Approximately half of the programs reported requiring word processing and e-mail skill competency for students entering nursing undergraduate programs. Less than one third of the programs addressed the use of standardized languages or terminologies in nursing and telehealth applications of nursing. One third of the programs cited inclusion of evidence-based practice as part of graduate curricula. Program faculty, who were rated at the "novice" or "advanced beginner" level for teaching information technology content and using information technology tools, are teaching information literacy skills. The southeastern central and Pacific regions of the United States projected the greatest future need for information technology-prepared nurses. Implications for nurse educators and program directors are discussed.

Informatics competencies for nurse managers and their staffs.

Nurses have always dealt with data, information, and knowledge. Therefore, as automated information systems become increasingly important in health care, all nurses should have core competencies in computer skills and data and information management. These competencies differ according to the skill level of the nurse, from a beginning nurse to nursing manager, and on to those who specialize in nursing informatics.