Approaches for defining and assessing nursing informatics competencies: a scoping review

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Informatics
• Health Sciences

Background:

• Nursing informatics competency research has evolved significantly over three decades.
• Defining and assessing these competencies is crucial for education, practice, policy, and research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine and map the existing literature on defining and assessing nursing informatics competencies.
• To understand the current state of knowledge regarding competencies for nurses and nursing students.

Main Methods:

• Conducted an extensive literature search across multiple databases and gray literature sources.
• Included papers defining or assessing nursing informatics competency as knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
• Assessed 52 papers independently using a data extraction tool.

Main Results:

• Thirty-four papers identified nursing informatics competencies, categorized by nurse level, role specificity, consensus recommendations, and future forecasting.
• Eighteen papers reported on nursing informatics competency assessment tools.
• Identified common themes across competency lists despite variations.

Conclusions:

• The literature shows a growing awareness of nursing informatics competency importance.
• A need exists for international consensus on core competencies and assessment tools.
• Further research is required to validate existing assessment tools and establish standardized competencies.