14: LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY ■ 325■ INFORMATICS AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES
FOR THE DOCTORAL APN
The AACN’s (2006) Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice has
identified specific competencies expected of a doctoral. Again, the use of technology
is threaded throughout the document; however, APN, Essential IV clearly speaks to ex-
pected proficiencies with information systems and patient care technologies. The AACN
maintains that nurses at this level are “distinguished by their abilities to use information
systems/ technology to sustain and improve patient care and health care systems, and
provide leadership within health care systems and/ or academic settings” (2006, p. 12).
The doctoral APN should be able to take a leadership role in: (a) the design, selection,
use, and evaluation of technologies for care; (b) analysis and identification of critical
elements to assist in the selection and evaluation process of these technologies; and
(c) design and implementation of mechanisms to extract data from practice information
systems and databases for the purpose of evaluation and improvement in “programs of
care, outcomes of care, and care systems” (2006, p. 12). A key competency involves the
ability to combine information from a variety of data sources to create new information,
and possibly new knowledge, to support care delivery, decision support, and care out-
comes. Dreher (2010) termed the knowledge emanating out of DNP programs (by both
DNP and DrNP g raduates) as practice knowledge. This practice knowledge has the poten-
tial to contribute significantly to the body of knowledge, change practice standards, and
improve patient outcomes.
INFORMATICS COMPETENCIES
It is expected that the doctoral APN would have informatics competencies at an expert
level. It is expected that he or she will be a role model to others in the integration and
utilization of clinical data systems to support the development of “practice wisdom,”
the development and application of unified nursing documentation language, the utili-
zation of information systems to improve quality and care outcomes, as well as demon-
strate advanced troubleshooting skills (Barton, 2005; Gassert, 2008; Staggers, Gassert, &
Curran, 2002; Westra & Delaney, 2008).
The Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform (TIGER Informatics
Competency Collaborative, 2009) initiative has identified three categories of informat-
ics skills: (a) basic computer competency, (b) information literacy, and (c) information
management (Gugerty & Delaney, 2009). At an expert level, it is expected that the doc-
toral APN would possess advanced skills using word processing, spreadsheets, and
presentation software. In addition, it is expected that he or she would possess high- level
skills in distance learning technologies. Essential information literacy skills include the
ability to:
- Determine the nature and extent of the information needed
- Access needed information effectively and efficiently
- Evaluate information and its sources critically and incorporate selected infor-
mation into his or her knowledge base and value system - Individually or as a member of a group, use information effectively to accom-
plish a specific purpose - Evaluate outcomes of the use of information (TIGER Informatics Competency
Collaborative, 2009)