Nursing students' perceptions of their resources toward the development of competencies in nursing informatics

This article presents the findings of a doctoral study about the internal and external resources required to develop nursing informatics competencies in student nurses.

Colleges and universities are responsible for training nursing students, including in the area of nursing informatics. Even though nursing informatics is a specialty recognized by the American Nursing Association (2001), it has received limited attention in Quebec, Canada.

A total of 131 college-level nursing students were randomly surveyed with a mail questionnaire designed to describe their perceptions about their internal and external resources in nursing informatics.

Nursing students perceive that their internal and external resources necessary to ensure "knowledge to act" in nursing informatics is moderately high. They said they lacked knowledge about using spreadsheet programs, presentation software, and courseware, about data security, and about how to analyze the quality of a health-related Web site and search electronic scientific databases.

These results show that, even if nursing students have access to a computer and the Internet at home and even if they feel competent using informatics in nursing, they still lack important resources for developing competencies in nursing informatics. We recommend that faculties and colleges focus on these elements.