Nurses are expected to care for patients in an efficient, effective and safe manner. While registered nurses strive to do this, what poses a greater occupational challenge to them today is the hospital environment that is increasingly turning digital and technical. This is where nursing informatics and its key functional areas have become highly relevant to practicing nurses.
TIGER Competencies
The key functional areas or Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER) competencies as developed by the TIGER Informatics Competency Collaborative that all practicing and graduating nurses must possess are basic computer competency, information literacy and information management (Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform (TIGER), 2009). All the three competencies are necessary to bridge the gap between nursing and digital skills so that nurses may access and process patient data better. They enable nurses to correctly locate, identify, evaluate, apply and present pertinent patient information and help them to convert evidence-based practice into actual nursing practice (TIGER, 2009).
Importance of Nursing Informatics
The above three competencies are a must for a nurse functioning in the digital age because they increase the efficiency and effectiveness of nursing documentation, improve the nurse’s output and the quality of care they can give to patients and add value to the organization where the nurse is working (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, 2012c). The best way to develop nursing informatics competencies in nurses would by adopting the TIGER Nursing Informatics Competencies Model in a gradual and phased manner (TIGER, 2009).
References
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. (2012c). The TIGER Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.thetigerinitiative.org/
Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform. (2009). TIGER Informatics Competencies Collaborative Final Report.
Retrieved from http://tigercompetencies.pbworks.com/f/TICC_Final.pdf
