Advanced Informatics Competencies of Nurses at Sutter Maternity and Surgery

Today, the profession of nursing requires the integration of many sciences and skill sets in order to care for the increasing acute and chronic illness in our patient populations. In order for nurses to safely care for patients in highly technological environments, they must integrate knowledge from Nursing Informatics (NI), to advance the profession, deliver safe high-quality patient care and effective documentation that drives improvement in patient outcomes. When nurses have an understanding of advanced NI skills, they are better equipped to become super users that train and lead teams in optimization of electronic health records (EHRs) to support them in enhancing patient safety. The purpose of this research was to measure the level of advanced nursing informatics competencies of nurses at Sutter Maternity and Surgery Hospital in order to better understand gaps that exist in education and training, which could be an impediment to enhanced care and patient safety. Results showed that respondents rated themselves as beginner in all categories