Reflection

Dear Future Students,

Throughout my journey to become a nurse educator I have learned a variety of things. One of the most prevalent themes is that of technology in healthcare. The field of healthcare is constantly changing as new evidence emerges on best practices of caring for patients. Recently, technology has blossomed and educators have had to change the way students are taught so they are prepared to enter the workforce successfully upon completion of the nursing program. As your educator, I will do my best to help you gain familiarity with these new technologies.

I had many preconceived notions of what it means to be an educator and had many thoughts on the type of educator I want to be. I used to think nursing education mainly consisted of lecture with occasional clinical time. I have learned this will not benefit you the most and in order to help you become a successful nurse, it is up to educators to guide you. I have learned there are a variety of ways I can teach to help facilitate learning and a variety of techniques I can use to help you stay engaged. After this learning experience, I feel confident to be able to help you gain comfort with technology in nursing. I am dedicated and invested in your obtainment of knowledge by whatever means necessary. The video below is just a small glimpse into what a nurse educator can do with technology.

I feel confident in my ability to educate future nurses through the incorporation of technology. Technology is a major part of the healthcare industry. The blog here provides a brief insight in the ability for technology to positively effect patient outcomes. I believe in technologies ability to help patients achieve better outcomes but it is up to nurses to be able to utilize and interpret what technology has to offer. It is ultimately up to nurses to be prepared to care for patients with the inclusion of technology and use it as a tool to help care for patients. I will do my best to ensure that you are prepared to utilize technology in nursing.  

Nursing Informatics Competence

After completion of the P.A.T.C.H. self assessment tool, I have discovered that my competence level is at the modifier level. This assessment shows that I am a nurse who currently demonstrates intermediate competence in nursing informatics. The world of informatics in healthcare is such a broad and complex concept and I hope with continued education and experience that I will be able to achieve competence at the innovator level. More information regarding the modifier level of nursing informatics can be found here.

I feel that due to the complexity of nursing informatics, I have only scratched the surface of learning. I thoroughly enjoy the concept of using technology to achieve optimal patient outcomes. I feel there are many benefits to the inclusion of computer science and nursing science in order to keep up with the ever-changing world of healthcare. Simulations for nursing competencies, electronic healthcare records, and data sets are some examples of the variety of technological advancements in healthcare.

At the beginning of this assessment, I understood that I could not possibly be at the innovator level. This course has been my first experience using nursing informatics with truly understanding what nursing informatics is. Through this assessment, I was able to learn the role nursing informatics has on the care of a patient. I learned that informatics is so much more than the electronic health record. It can be used for research, educational advancement and competence, and the development of policies. It is beneficial to nurses to obtain knowledge in tis field to gain comfort and competence with technology.

There are areas of improvement that I need to develop in order to improve my competence with nursing informatics. I should try to utilize the internet and other health materials to support the care that I provide. Through this type of research in the workplace, I will not simply do things because that is the way I have always done them or that is what I have been told to do. I will utilize research and evidence based findings to support  my care. If I question a policy or procedure, I will investigate using nursing informatics to provide a solution.

As an educator, I feel it necessary to prepare students to utilize nursing informatics in their care. If they are taught this concept in the classroom, they will be more likely to utilize it once they enter the workforce. Through implementation of this concept in the classroom, students will gain clarity about the correlation between technology and nursing care. If I am able to show students the benefits that nursing informatics can have on patient outcomes, the students will gain knowledge and understanding of the vital role nursing informatics has in healthcare. More information about nursing informatics in nursing education can be found here.