Welcome to Module 3 of Nursing Informatics Training and Education, Choosing Resources for Training and Educating Others. In this module, we will review resources that are freely available to help build nursing informatics training and education courses, and curricula for learners in diverse settings. The objectives are to describe resources that are freely available for nursing informatics training and education, to understand the value of collaboration with other nursing informatics leaders around competencies and content, and to analyze nursing informatics content for particular, teaching or education project to ensure content is appropriate for the intended audience in context. Resources should be chosen with care based on the training and education needs of our intended audience. As we lead nursing informatics training in education programs and courses, it is essential to focus on the participants, and their perspectives, as well as the places they convene to learn about nursing informatics. Most of our training in education opportunities are directed toward three types of learners. Students have various levels, clinicians ranging from new users to super-users, and decision makers who may have little knowledge of informatics, but a great appreciation for meaningful data. Perspectives vary across learners. Most students are seeking new knowledge. They may have little background in nursing informatics, and they may view informatics as a part of their overall education or they may wish to specialize and excel in the field. Clinicians may seek to fulfill requirements for their employment, meet regulations or understand how to optimize workflow to improve care. Decision makers may be interested in learning how data can inform them, regarding population health outcomes relative to their jurisdiction or health system. The associated financial implications and how these data may help them shape policy. We also have many options for our informatics course offerings. Places like classrooms, worksites, and professional meetings have virtual equivalents, that will allow us to reach more people at lower cost. Each nursing informatics program and course, may have multiple modes of delivery and types of participants. We, as nursing informatics leaders, need to leverage our innovator and coordinator skills to optimize our programs according to the unique needs of our participants. What participants perspectives and places will you plan for your course project? Deciding what to teach to our participants is challenging because nursing informatics changes quickly. We need to stay up-to-date. Indeed, we must envision the future to ensure that our participants achieve their training in education goals, and have the competencies they need in the real world. As we discussed in Module 1, competencies have been developed primarily for nursing informatics education versus nursing informatics training environments. If you're leading nursing informatics training course development, consider the specific competencies that are as essential in your setting. Likely the training is very specific, and addresses technology changes, and regulatory requirements, and almost always aims to achieve a competent workforce that delivers quality care to improve patient safety as well as promoting positive outcomes, as we use our electronic health records and other technologies. Thus, the competencies described previously may provide a strong underlying framework for the more specific training needs in healthcare settings. Choosing competencies is a critical first step that guides our curriculum and course development. All nursing informatics leaders must respond within the hierarchies that define our training and education needs. Typically, we can also engage collaborators in the process. We can leverage our organizer and coordinators skills together with our facilitator skills to choose the appropriate competencies. This will help us to write the course description and course objectives. Then we can leverage our innovator skills to design the course to address the selected competencies. Which competencies are a good fit for your course project? We need to evaluate participants content needs to ensure that we have the best information delivered in the best format, for the best value and publication date in order to ensure content quality. For textbooks and journal articles, we consider the author's credentials and affiliations, as well as the publisher reviews. Whenever possible, we seek to provide no cost or low-cost materials that may be freely available online, if they are of sufficient quality. In nursing informatics, the best date will likely be the most recent, given how quickly the field changes. Of course, there are notable exceptions. But these are general principles for selecting high-quality content. Addressing the challenging question of course content as nursing informatics leaders, draws upon skills across all leadership cultures. We need to leverage our visionary skills to imagine a dynamic interplay between technology in health care, and how that may impact, and be influenced by nurses. We need to be innovative as we incorporate new content into our courses. Our organizer, coordinator, and monitor skills, together with facilitator and mentor skills, ensure that we align with expectations, and work well with our colleagues. Our hard driver your skills ensure success in setting and achieving goals. Perhaps, the content for your course project has been well-defined, and you're ready to share it. What nursing informatics content will you incorporate into your course project? Fortunately, there are great resources for teaching nursing informatics that were developed through the National Nursing Informatics Deep Dive program led by Dr. Tom Clancy at the University of Minnesota, and funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This exciting project aim to expand the nursing informatics teaching capacity in schools of nursing. You'll find doctors Clancy, Adwan, Wilson, and Kunkel, sharing lectures that you can use in your courses. Now, in our discussion for this module, what participants perspectives and places will guide content selection for your course project? What competencies will you address? What course resources have you found to match participants training or education needs? Revise your course introduction recording, and rerecord it. Discuss your experiences creating digital media for your project. Then, complete the required readings and take the quiz to test your new knowledge.
