Aim The aim of this literature review was to determine the state of the science related to clinical informatics competencies of registered nurses and to determine best practices in educational strategies for both nursing students and faculty. Background Continued emphasis on the provision of evidence-based patient care has implications for requisite informatics-focused competencies to be threaded throughout all levels of nursing educational programs. Method Whittemore and Knalf's five-step integrative review process guided this research. An extensive search yielded 69 publications for critical appraisal. Results Results suggest nursing educational programs do not adhere to standardized criteria for teaching nursing informatics competencies. Another identified literature gap was the scarcity of research related to informatics training requirements for nurse educators. Conclusion Findings support the need for continued research to provide clear direction about the expected clinical informatics competencies of graduate nurses and what training faculty need to facilitate student learning.

A Review of Clinical Informatics Competencies in Nursing to Inform Best Practices in Education and Nurse Faculty Development.

Education and Training on Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) for health care professionals and students: A Scoping Review.

As healthcare systems demand that nurses be competent in using electronic medical records for patient care, the integration of electronic medical records into nursing curricula has become necessary. The purpose of this study was to explore how students, new nurses, clinical instructors, and faculty perceive the integration of academic electronic medical records into the undergraduate clinical practicum. From January to February 2014, four focus group interviews with 18 participants were conducted based on purposive sampling. Content analysis was used on the unabridged transcripts to extract themes and develop meaningful categories. Three major themes and eight subthemes were revealed from the focus group interviews. The major themes were "electronic medical record as a learning tool for clinical practicum," "essential functions of academic electronic medical records," and "expected outcomes of academic electronic medical record." Participants expected academic electronic medical records to enhance students' nursing informatics competencies. The findings of this study can inform the process of developing academic electronic medical records for clinical practicum, which will then augment students' informatics competencies.

Assessment of the Need to Integrate Academic Electronic Medical Records Into the Undergraduate Clinical Practicum: A Focus Group Interview.

Incorporating Electronic Documentation into Beginning Nursing Courses Facilitates Safe Nursing Practice

Background: Teaching students about electronic health records presents challenges for most nursing programs, primarily because of the limited training opportunities within clinical practice settings. A simulated electronic health record is an experiential, learner-centered strategy that enables students to acquire and apply the informatics knowledge needed for working with electronic records in a safe learning environment before the students have encounters with real patients.
Objective: The aim of this study is to provide a preliminary evaluation of the Lippincott DocuCare simulated electronic health record and determine the feasibility issues associated with its implementation.
Methods: We used one-group pretest-posttest, surveys, and focus group interviews with students and instructors to pilot the DocuCare simulated electronic health record within an undergraduate nursing program in Western Canada. Volunteering students worked through 4 case scenarios during a 1-month pilot. Self-reported informatics knowledge and attitudes toward the electronic health record, accuracy of computerized documentation, satisfaction, and students’ and educators’ experiences were examined. Demographic and general information regarding informatics learning was also collected.
Results: Although 23 students participated in this study, only 13 completed surveys were included in the analysis. Almost two-thirds of the students indicated their overall understanding of nursing informatics as being fair or inadequate. The two-tailed paired samples t test used to evaluate the impact of DocuCare on students’ self-reported informatics knowledge and attitudes toward the electronic health record revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean score of knowledge before and after using DocuCare (before: mean 2.95, SD 0.58; after: mean 3.83, SD 0.39; t12=5.80, two-tailed; P<.001). There was no statistically significant difference in the mean scores of attitudes toward the electronic health record before and after using DocuCare (before: mean 3.75, SD 0.40; after: mean 3.70, SD 0.34; t12=0.39, two-tailed; P=.70). Students’ documentation scores varied from somewhat accurate to completely accurate; however, performance improved for the majority of students as they progressed from case scenarios 1 to 4. Both the faculty and students were highly satisfied with DocuCare and highly recommended its integration. Focus groups with 7 students and 3 educators revealed multiple themes. The participants shared suggestions regarding the DocuCare product customization and strategies for potential integration in undergraduate nursing programs.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated the feasibility and suitability of the DocuCare program as a tool to enhance students’ learning about informatics and computerized documentation in electronic health records. Recommendations will be made to academic leadership in undergraduate programs on the basis of this study. Furthermore, a controlled evaluation study will be conducted in the future.

Academic Electronic Health Records in Undergraduate Nursing Education: Mixed Methods Pilot Study.

The purpose of the project was to provide students with experiences to develop their technology competency and examine student perceptions about an academic electronic medical record (EMR) as a learning tool. Nurse educators need to integrate EMRs into their curricula to give students practice in the use of electronic documentation and retrieval of clinical information. The findings of this study indicated that students' use of EMRs at least 5 times resulted in the development of positive perceptions about their EMR experience.

Ina Warboys

Papers

Electronic medical records in clinical teaching.