ABSTRACT
A growing awareness exists that informatics competencies are essential skills for healthcare professionals today, yet the development of these competencies lags behind the need. The Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER) Initiative represents a comprehensive, interdisciplinary effort that is well suited to the integration of informatics into education, practice, administration, and research environments. This article briefly discusses the background and significance of the TIGER Initiative and why it may be used as a model to instill informatics among the healthcare professionals globally.
Subject(s)
Health Personnel/education , Medical Informatics/education , Models, Educational , Competency-Based Education , Cooperative Behavior , Curriculum , Educational Technology/methods , Humans , Professional CompetenceABSTRACT
The Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER) Initiative is designed to address a set of skills that is needed by all nurses who will practice in the profession in the 21st century. The skill set includes informatics competencies that range from basic computer skills to advanced-level information technology and literacy competencies and expertise. Despite the significance of the TIGER Initiative, few nurse educators have operationalized TIGER or adopted its plan to transform nursing practice and education to better prepare nurses to practice in a technology rich healthcare environment. TIGER is currently in phase III: implementation. The authors outline the TIGER Initiative as well as actions that nurse educators can take to develop and integrate informatics competencies into the curriculum to prepare nurses for the high-touch, high-technology patient-centered care of the 21st century.
