Competency Levels of Nursing Informatics

a. Technical level
Related to the actual psychomotor use of computers and other technological equipment
Includes the ability to use selected applications in a comfortable and knowledgeable way.

b. Utility level
Related to the process of using technology within nursing practice, education, research, and administration.
Includes the process of applying evidenced based practice, critical thinking and accountability in the use of
selected application in an comfortable and knowledgeable way.

c. Leadership Level
Related to the ethical and management issues and using technology within nursing practice, education, research
and administration.
Includes the process of applying accountability, client privacy and confidentiality and quality assurance in
documentation in the use of selected application in a comfortable and knowledgeable way.

Competency Levels of Expertise in Nursing Informatics

A. User level – beginner level
Indicates nurses who demonstrate core nursing informatics competencies
Includes practicing nurses, nursing administration, nurse researchers and educators who can minimally
demonstrate basic knowledge in the use of technology
The basic level that all Nurses should possess no matter the area of practice.

B. Modifier level – intermediate level

Indicates nurses who demonstrate intermediate nursing informatics competencies.
Includes practicing nurses, nursing administration, nurse researchers, educators who have mastered basic skills
and use technology in inventive ways in their practice.

C. Innovator level – advanced level

Indicates nurses who demonstrate advanced and specialized nursing informatics competencies
Includes practicing nurses, nursing administration, nurse researchers, educators who have mastered expert skills
and use technology in designing, planning, coordinating the user of technologies and informatics theory in nursing.

Competency Framework

Computer systems
Computer
A device that computes, especially a programmable electronic machine that performs high-speed mathematical or
logical operations or that assembles, stores, correlates, or otherwise processes information.
Is a machine that uses electronic components to perform calculations and repetitive and complex procedures,
process text, and manipulate data and signals.

4 Main Functions of the Computer

1. Accepts data
2. Processes data
3. Produces output
4. Stores results

Computer Hardware
All of the physical components of the machine itself.
The basic hardware of a computer includes the electronic circuits, microchips, processors, and the motherboard
itself inside the computer housing.
Includes devices that are peripheral to the main computer box

Main Components of a Typical Computer

1. CPU (Central Processing Unit)
The “brains” of the computer
Consist of one arithmetic and logic units, and memory.

1
CPU chip is attached to the motherboard.

2. Memory
It is where the data are stored

Types of memory:
a. Read Only Memory (ROM)-Permanent storage and cannot be erased
b. Random Access Memory (RAM)- temporary storage, speed is expressed in megahertz (MHz)
c. Basic Input/ output system (BIOS)- establish basic communication upon turning the computer on
d. Caching- storing of frequently used data in RAM
e. Virtual memory- located in the hard disk to temporarily store data, swap it in and out of RAM as needed

3. Motherboard
is a content of any computer box. It is a thin, flat sheet made of a firm, non-conducting material on which the
internal components-printed circuits, chips, slots, and so on-of the computer are mounted.

4. Power Supply- regulates electricity used by the computer

5. Hard Disk- Large-capacity permanent storage to hold programs and documents
6. Operating System- allows the user to interface with the computer
7. Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) Controller- primary interface for the hard drive
8. Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus- allows connection of additional components to the computer
with series of slots on the motherboard
9. SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)- another method of adding additional devices
(eg. Hard drives,
scanners)
10. Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)- very high-speed connection used by the graphics card to interface with the
computer
11. Sound Card- used by the computed to play and record audio
12. Graphics card-translates image data from the computer into a displayed format in the computer

Input and Output devices

These are wired to a controller that is plugged into the slots or circuit boards of the computer.

INPUT DEVICES
-It allows the computer to receive information
from the outside world.

a. Keyboard
b. Mouse
c. Touch screen
d. Light pen
e. Voice
f. Scanner
g. Security devices – detects user’s fingerprints, retinal prints, voiceprints, other physical characteristics
that identify users who have clearance to use the system.
h. Electrodes on patient’s body for computerized physiologic monitoring.

Output Devices
It allows the computer to report its result to the external world in form of text, data files, sound, graphics, or
signals to other devices.

a. Monitor (display screen)

b. Printer
Storage Media
Includes the main memory but also external devices on which programs and data are stored.
a. Hard drive
b. Diskettes
c. CD-ROM – is a form of optical storage. Optical media are read by laser “eye” rather than a magnet
(Columbia Encyclopaedia, 2003)
d. USB (Universal Serial Bus)/ Flash drive

2
 Other output devices
Magnetic tape drives – it run magnetic tape which is similar to the tape in any music tape player. Popular in
1980s-1990s but today are obsolete for home use.

Zip drives – more similar to ordinary floppy disks, but are of higher capacity.

Computer Power
The term bits and bytes refer to how the machine stores information at the lowest, or ‘closest to machine registers
and memory,” level.
Computer do not process information as words or numbers.
They handle information as words or numbers.
They handle information in bytes. A byte is made up of 8 bits.

Computer Speed
The CPU speed is measured in cycles per seconds – clock speed of the computer.
Megahertz(MHz) – speed of 1 million cycles per second.

Classes of computers

1. Analog Computer
The analog computer operates on continuous physical or electrical magnitudes, measuring ongoing
continuous analog quantities such as voltage, current, temperature, and pressure.
Selected physiologic monitoring equipment, which accepts continuous input/output signals, is in the
analog class of computers.
Examples: heart and fetal monitors.
2. Digital computer
Operates discontinuous numerical digits using the binary numbering system.
It represents data using discrete values for all data. Its data are represented by numbers, letters, and symbols
rather than by waveforms such as on a heart monitor.
Most of the computers used in the health care industry for charting and decision support are digital computers
3. Hybrid Computers
Contains features of both the analog and the digital computer.
It is used for specific applications, such as complex signal processing and other engineering-oriented applications.
It is also found in some monitoring equipment that converts analog signal to digital ones for data processing.
Examples: Physiologic monitor that capture the heart waveform (ECG,EEG, and so forth) and also to measure the
core body temperature at specific times of the shift

Types of Computers
1. Supercomputers – is a computational-oriented computer specially designed for scientific applications requiring
gigantic amounts of calculations.
A world class “number cruncher”
Designed primarily for analysis of scientific and engineering problem and for task requiring millions or billions of
computational operations and calculations.
it is found primarily in areas such as defense and weaponry, weather forecasting, and scientific research.
Is also providing a new source of power for the high-performance computing and communication (HPCC)
environment.

2. Mainframe computer – is the fastest, largest, and most expensive type of computer used in corporate America
for processing, storing, and retrieving data.
It is a large multiuser central computer that meets the computing needs-especially the large amount of repetitive
calculations of bills, payroll, and the like-of a large organization.
-Capable of processing BIPS and accessing billions (GB) of characters of data.
-Can serve a large number (Hundreds) of users at the same time.
-There are also phone lines into the computer so that remote users can gain access to it and it has an extremely
large memory capacity and fast operating and processing time, and it can process a large number of functions
(multiprocessing) at one time.

3. Microcomputers(Personal Computers or PC)

3
They are being used for an increasing number of independent applications as well as serving as a desktop link to
the programs of the mainframe.
Hospital nursing departments are using PCs to process applications such as patient classification, nurse staffing
and scheduling, and personnel management applications.

* They are also found in educational and research settings, where they are used to conduct a multitude of special
educational and scientific function.

* Desktop can also serve as stand-alone workstations and can be linked to a network system to increase their
capabilities.

* Also available as portable, laptop, notebook, and handheld computers.

4. Handheld computers – are small, special function computers, although a few “full function” handheld
computers were introduced in the late 1990s.
More popular are palm-sized computers, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), which are the smallest of
the handheld computers.
PDA is a very small special function handheld computer which provides calendar, contacts, and note-taking
functions, and a variety of other functions (Hyperdictionary, 2004).