Informatics and Technology in Nursing Education

             As I have identified throughout my blog, the world of nursing and nursing education has significantly changed over the last 100 years; although my professional nursing career has only spanned the last 25, I have personally and most specifically witnessed substantial transformation in the use of informatics and technology. 

The Nursing Informatics Competency Self-Assessment is highly recommended in providing a better understanding of personal comprehension of informatics in health care.  Provided by the Nursing Informatics Learning Center,  the assessment identified that I am confident in utilizing personal computer skills to enhance and inspire creativity, as well as perform routine nursing functions within my profession.  The assessment also identified my personal recognition of the importance of using technological information within my chosen profession, as well as the fact that I have a positive perception of the importance of computerized healthcare and nursing applications.  My personal growth in technology and informatics has taken place most recognizably within the last four years of higher nursing education.  Classes such as Informatics and Statistics have offered me the opportunity to visualize the bigger picture and utilize modern technology to comprehend the information at a much more superior level.

Continued education and personal experience has brought me to a place within my career in which I wish to use the skills provided over the years to encourage, engage and prepare a new generation of nurses to flourish in their own careers.  Some of the most modern 21^st century technological teaching and learning strategies that I look most forward to utilizing include clickers in the classroom, Digital Story Telling, MoveNote (my personal favorite), High Fidelity Simulation, and blogging.  These new and innovative advances in technology provide a level of education far beyond traditional nursing education and offer the student the opportunity to obtain, absorb, comprehend, maintain and reflect upon knowledge received throughout and beyond their status as a student.  I also maintain the responsibility to ensure my personal knowledge, teaching qualifications and abilities continue to grow with the rapidly evolving technologies in health care, as offering students a 21^st century learning environment that encompasses modern and up-to-date clinical and technological practices and processes is pertinent to ensuring quality health care across the United States.