Paper
Saturday, November 3, 2007

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This presentation is part of : Using Mobile Information Management Tools to Promote Evidence-Based Practice in an Academic Environment
Integrating Information Management Tools, Concepts and Competencies into the Undergraduate Nursing Program
Christine Curran, RN, PhD, College of Nursing, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Given the information explosion, one cannot assimilate all of the needed patient information and best practice findings without the help of technology.  Educators need to prepare nursing students for a work environment that is increasingly automated.  Informatics competencies and informatics tools are part of the infrastructure needed to achieve an evidence based practice.  This presentation will share The Ohio State University, College of Nursing’s vision for use of information management tools, incorporation of informatics concepts, and integration of informatics competencies into the undergraduate curriculum to enhance evidence based practice at the point of care. 

Since astute information management skills are vital to the success of practicing nurses, we have taken a three pronged approach to enhance learning of these skills for our nursing students.  Our methodology includes:

o                Creation of a virtual community that includes the patients used within our courses

o                Selection and integration of informatics competencies into the curricula

o                Use of point of care technologies (i.e., a clinical information system and Personal Digital Assistants) to assist students with mastering information management skills for delivery of high quality and safe patient care.

The vision and current status for each of the three components will be discussed.  Our virtual community, the town of Mirror Lake, provides a context for our patients / clinical cases used in the curricula.  Informatics competencies for the graduating BSN student were selected from the published work of Staggers, Gassert & Curran (2002).  The processes used to select and agree on these competencies will be shared.  How point of care technologies were selected and applied will be presented.

See more of Using Mobile Information Management Tools to Promote Evidence-Based Practice in an Academic Environment
See more of The 39th Biennial Convention (November 3 -- 7, 2007)