The Health Information Technology Competencies Tool

Abstract

Information technology use in healthcare delivery mandates a prepared workforce. The initial Health Information Technology Competencies tool resulted from a 2-year transatlantic effort by experts from the US and European Union to identify approaches to develop skills and knowledge needed by healthcare workers. It was determined that competencies must be identified before strategies are established, resulting in a searchable database of more than 1000 competencies representing five domains, five skill levels, and more than 250 roles. Health Information Technology Competencies is available at no cost and supports role- or competency-based queries. Health Information Technology Competencies developers suggest its use for curriculum planning, job descriptions, and professional development.The Chamberlain College of Nursing informatics research team examined Health Information Technology Competencies for its possible application to our research and our curricular development, comparing it originally with the TIGER-based Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies and Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment of Level 3 and Level 4 tools, which examine informatics competencies at four levels of nursing practice. Additional analysis involved the 2015 Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice. Informatics is a Health Information Technology Competencies domain, so clear delineation of nursing-informatics competencies was expected. Researchers found TIGER-based Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies and Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment of Level 3 and Level 4 differed from Health Information Technology Competencies 2016 in focus, definitions, ascribed competencies, and defined levels of expertise. When Health Information Technology Competencies 2017 was compared against the nursing informatics scope and standards, researchers found an increase in the number of informatics competencies but not to a significant degree. This is not surprising, given that Health Information Technology Competencies includes all healthcare workers, while the TIGER-based Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies and Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment of Level 3 and Level 4 tools and the American Nurses Association Nursing Informatics: Scope and Standards of Practice are nurse specific. No clear cross mapping across these tools and the standards of nursing informatics practice exists. Further examination and review are needed to translate Health Information Technology Competencies as a viable tool for nursing informatics use in the US.

Emerging Professionals’ Observations of Opportunities and Challenges in Nursing Informatics

“…Currently, NI are suggested to be core competencies instead of an isolated set of skills in nursing (Abdrbo 2015;Kleib and Nagle 2018;Sipes et al 2017). Informatics competency requirements are set for different roles and all levels of nurses (nurse administrators, nurse researchers, nurse teachers and practicing nurses) (Collins et al 2017;Egbert et al 2018;Grobe 1989;Kannry et al 2016;Skiba 2016;Strudwick et al 2019) and across different levels in health systems, ranging from service providers to national-level strategic decision makers (Whittaker et al 2015).…”

Creating Case Studies for Digital Health and Technology Competency in Nursing

“…Even with specific gaps identified, learners (including nursing students, noninformatics faculty, and practicing nurses) have not had many resources to improve competencies or reduce KSA gaps. [7][8][9][10][11][12]…”

“…Self-assessment tools for informatics competencies have been created for nursing students and practicing nurses but few for nursing faculty. Even with specific gaps identified, learners (including nursing students, noninformatics faculty, and practicing nurses) have not had many resources to improve competencies or reduce KSA gaps 7–12…”

Nurses' Informatics Competency Assessment of Health Information System Usage

“…The definition of nursing informatics competencies has evolved over the years (eg, Refs 17–19). This is as expected, considering that the new technological advances alongside digitalization have also increased competence requirements for health professionals.…”