Effects of an Educational Intervention on Nurse Leaders Comfort with Informatics Competencies

In 2011, a hospital-based nursing staff development department at a large academic health system sought to increase the knowledge and competence of health information technology (HIT) of nursing leaders. Feedback from a nursing staff needs assessment showed that many of the nurse leaders wanted continuing education in HIT topics, as they felt less proficient in informatics related skills than in other areas of their jobs. This was not surprising, as the majority of the nursing leadership held challenging jobs that left them with limited opportunity to attend informatics programs. Leaders requested HIT education that was convenient and targeted topics relevant to their positions as advance practice nurses, supervisors and managers. In addition, participants wanted to build informatics knowledge and skills using real life, practical approaches that could easily be applied to their work setting.;To address this need, a two-day conference was provided using newly developed educational informatics curriculum based on Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER) competencies. General sessions included topics such as "Health Care Reform- How will it affect our Health System?" In addition, there were simulation-based sessions, such as, "Closing the Gap between Research and Evidence Based Practice" and "Creating Reports with Excel". Local expert speakers taught each session. A voluntary, single-center study was conducted using a pre and post-test design to evaluate the program. The survey reflected the two levels of competencies (basic and experienced) developed in a Delphi study to determine baseline informatics competencies for nursing managers and recommended by the TIGER Institute (Hart, 2010). The instrument had 46 questions using a 1-6 Likert format ranging from very uncomfortable to very comfortable, asking for pre and post conference opinions. Twenty-three participants completed both sessions' days. Their survey instruments were analyzed using a analysis of variance (ANOVA) allowing the comparison of the means of four time intervals: Day 1 pre test, Day 1 post test, Day 2 pre test, and Day 2 post test. Data collected from participants attending only one day (n=10 on Day 1/n=11 on Day 2) of the conference was analyzed using a t test to determine if there was a significant difference between the "Informatics Skills Inventory Survey" pre-test and post-test mean scores.;The following research questions were asked in this study: 1. To what extent, if any, does an informatics educational program improve the nurse leaders comfort level with informatics competencies? 2. Which informatics content significantly improved the nurse leader's comfort level with informatics competencies? 3. Which informatics content had little or no impact on the nurse leader's comfort level with informatics competencies? After the educational program, improved comfort with competencies were noted in electronic communication, on line literature search, multimedia presentations, spreadsheet applications, education records, privacy & security, and decision support systems. Therefore, a short introductory nursing informatics program may improve the comfort level of nursing leaders with nursing informatics competencies Although an introductory program proved initially helpful, it did not consistently sustained improved levels of comfort with nursing informatics competencies two weeks after the first session Therefore, ongoing professional development opportunities are needed to sustain new knowledge acquisition. Lastly, a knowledge gap exists in the nursing workforce and nursing informatics curriculum must allow enough variation to meet the education needs of the nursing workforce. The study results will guide future HIT courses provided by this health system. Sharing educational strategies and program design may help accelerate progress in informatics education for other hospital settings, as further discussion and research are need to advance this field.