Strengthening Informatics and Health Care Technologies Curriculum for Nurse Educator Students

The ubiquitous, evolving presence of informatics and health care technologies in nursing practice requires that nurse educator students be equipped to teach this content. Several professional guidelines articulate general informatics and health care technologies competencies, but limited guidance exists regarding how they should be applied to the nurse educator specialty. This article describes how one university identified informatics and health care technologies knowledge and skills essential for nurse educator students and strengthened this content in the program's curriculum. Following a search of 3 databases for relevant peer-reviewed literature, a 11-article sample was analyzed for themes. In addition, competencies from 3 professional guidelines were cross-mapped. Five themes congruent with professional guideline competencies were identified from the reviewed literature: facilitate learner proficiency with electronic health records and standardized terminologies; use existing and emerging health care technologies in practice; use data and technology to inform nursing practice; incorporate informatics and health care technologies standards in curriculum; and promote digital literacy and nurses' influence on informatics and health care technologies. Themes were used to revise objectives in several master's-level nurse educator courses. Findings may help other nurse educator programs strengthen informatics and health care technologies curriculum. They could also be used to inform professional development activities for current nurse educators.