In the present health care world, technology has permeated every sphere of service, which makes informatics competency a necessity for one to survive. As such, it becomes important that one identifies their competency levels in technology in order to seek for improvements and align their operations to the present dynamics. The TIGER-based Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies (TANIC) tool can efficiently be utilized in determining these competencies. Established in 2006, the TANIC tool permits nurses to rate their levels of competency starting from beginner/NA to comfortable, to expert, and finally proficient as regards its three domains of rudimentary computer skills, clinical information management and information literacy (Sipes et al., 2017). The purpose of the present paper is to help me as a practicing nurse to use the TANIC tool to identify areas of technological competencies that I need to improve on, aid me in formulating a plan that will initiate improvements in those areas, as well as elucidating the role that nursing informatics plays in the effectiveness of my nursing career.
Self-Assessments
According to the TANIC tool, basic computer skills forms the first domain of competencies that nurses are expected to have. Even with the rudimentary nature of this domain, there exists an area that one can always improve. Thus, as regards to basic computer competencies, I have identified that I have a weakness in using text-editing applications (Hunter et al., 2015). Improving this area is a necessity for me because I do not have experience interacting with these applications. In addition, I could also use improvement in utilizing antivirus software to scare folders, software, files, and drivers since I lack experience in it. The fact that different scanning software applications exist made it difficult for me to learn the skill. However, by improving in it, I will be able to comfortably guarantee the security of my computer hence the pertinent work folders and files therein.
The second domain of the TANIC tool encompasses the information management competencies. Herein, I could improve my knowledge regarding proprietary information systems (Sipes et al., 2017). The experience that I possess in this area is negligible yet it is important to nursing practice. In addition to that, I also identified that I am weak in the procedure to maintain the security of organizational information. The issue of securing organizational information is particularly pertinent given the proliferation of data hacking practices and the need for privacy in nursing care. For these reasons, I need to improve my competency in this area so as to guarantee the above.
The third and last domain in the TANIC tool encompasses information management. The first area that needs improvement in this domain is the usage of appropriate search language for articles (Hunter et al., 2015). In the past, I have experienced problems searching for peer-reviewed articles when conducting research. The fact that I barely know how to use keywords to get pertinent articles makes this weakness even more glaring. Consequently, I have spent a lot of time on researching for articles, an undertaking that should be taking less time with proper competency. Moreover, I have had issues with judging the legitimacy of scholarly sources. Given that nursing has adopted evidence-based research founded on the latest scholarly articles published within the last five years, it becomes important to gain this competency. The proliferation of open source journal article databases makes it all the more difficult to conduct this judgment. Thus, by improving my competency in this area, I will not only ensure that I utilize the latest articles in my research, but also those that meet the threshold of being scholarly.
Skill Strengthening Plan
The skills that I have identified above have impacted my practice and desire to advance my educational level in nursing. In the age of technology and with the idea of gaining competencies in certain technology areas, the best strategy would be for me to leverage online learning. In various e-learn
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