Information Technology in Nursing Practice: A Scoping Review of Assessment Tools for Evaluating Nurses’ Competencies

Dulce Cachata,1,2 Mónica Costa,1,3 Teresa Magalhães,4 Pedro Lucas,1 Filomena Gaspar1 1Nursing Research, Innovation and Development Center in Lisbon (CIDNUR), Nursing School of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal; 2Innovation Health Center, Hospital de Cascais, Cascais, Portugal; 3Escola Superior de Saúde do Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Setúbal, Portugal; 4NOVA National School of Public Health, Public Health Research Centre, Comprehensive Health Research Center, CHRC, NOVA University of Lisbon, Lisbon, PortugalCorrespondence: Pedro Lucas, Email [email protected]: The ongoing evolution of Health Information Technology has provided professionals with major challenges in maintaining the safety and quality of care provided to patients, especially when it comes to hyper-technological environments in hospital. This has driven the need to develop specific competencies and maintain a balance between ethical aspects, social and legal challenges related to privacy and data security, as well as the challenge of ensuring person-centered care practice. Then it will be important to understand what competences nurses are developing, based on what models and what instruments exist to assess them.Purpose: Identify and map information technologies and measurement instruments used to assess nurses’ competencies in technological environments in hospital.Methods: A scoping review was carried out using the methodology presented by The Joanna Briggs Institute.Results: Of the 101 articles extracted, 4 articles were selected where 5 instruments were identified that evaluate: (1) Informatics Competency in Nursing Leaders; (2) Technological Competence as Nursing Care – Perception and Practice dimension; (3) Self-Assessment of Nursing Informatics Skills; (4) Clinical Decision Making in Nursing, and (5) Self-Assessment Questionnaire that Assesses Nurses’ Informatics Skills, for nursing informatics.Conclusion: The development and enhancement of technological skills in nursing care provide an innovative and crucial perspective for managing and organizing healthcare delivery. This perspective is of great importance, reinforced by the reality in which nurses find themselves, with highly technological nursing practice environments that are increasingly developed. Knowledge and use of IT equipment, areas of basic IT knowledge, information literacy, wireless device skills, the role of clinical IT, and applied IT skills are some of the skills identified by this study. The use of various support tools as instruments for clinical decision-making in nursing is also fundamental to the quality of nursing care.Keywords: clinical competency, competency assessment, information technology, instruments, nursing care, hospital