10 Great Nursing Informatics Skills to Have

1. Basic keyboarding and word processing skills. These are essential 21st century skills for everything. If you do not have at least these basic computer skills, you will quickly become unemployable. It’s that basic, and that important.
   
   


2. Skill in using spreadsheets. Spreadsheets organize information in ways that easy to understand. Tables are a type of spreadsheet. A medication drip calculation table is a simple spreadsheet. The ability to create spreadsheets to manage information is increasingly necessary in nursing.
   
   


3. Skill in using email programs. Even interdepartmental communication takes place by email these days. Yes, it is faster to email a question to another nurse than it is to hunt him down. It’s also faster to email a physician, or the pharmacy.
   
   


4. Skill in using computer presentation and multimedia teaching programs. Much of nursing continuing education will become self-directed in the near future, and you need to be able to use the technology to access it. Nurses will also have more responsibility for teaching other healthcare providers, and need to develop skill in developing computer presentations.
   
   


5. Good internet skills. You must be able to access and evaluate information over the internet. Finding accurate, up-to-date information will become even more important in the future.
   
   


6. Skill in using databases to access, enter and retrieve data. Databases are simply collections of information. The skill is in sorting the information so that you get what you need. Nurses will increasingly need to know how to use databases to manage information.
   
   


7. Good research skills. The ability to conduct research using the internet and databases is essential. There’s a lot of information available that can help you give good patient care; you have to know how to access it.
   
   


8. The ability to use decision support systems. Computerized algorithmic systems help healthcare professionals make clinical decisions by helping you rule things in and out.
   
   


9. Skill in utilizing computer applications to plan and document care. As more and more places go to electronic health records, the ability to use applications to enter information into those health records becomes more valuable.
   
   


10. The ability to continue to learn and educate yourself. You are responsible for your learning. Nursing will continue to become more technologically integrated, and nursing informatics will continue to be a big part of that. The most important nursing informatics skill you can have is the ability and willingness to learn and to keep up with the constant changes you will face.