Nursing Undergraduate Course

Transcription

1 Department of Medical Informatics and Medical Education Clinical Science Institute, NUI, Galway Nursing Undergraduate Course Health Informatics has been defined as the study of how health information is created, shaped, shared and applied. (Enrico Coiera, 1997). It is a discipline that has grown in importance as the body of knowledge available to health care professionals has expanded and our knowledge of the practice of healthcare becomes more sophisticated. Health informatics encompasses a wide range of different aspects of professional practice. For example an increasing awareness over the past 50 years of the complexity involved in making decisions in healthcare led to a whole domain of research and development in the field of probability and decision support. Another common application of health informatics is evidence-based nursing representing a scientific response to the great variability evident in clinical practice. Getting access to and using knowledge appropriately are skills, which are far more important today than heretofore. Thus the use of electronic databases and virtual sources of information has become all the more important. The health informatics courses provided by this department are based upon the assumptions inherent in the Coiera definition, thus there are portions of our courses that describe how knowledge is created and shaped as well as exploring how information is shared and applied. Each of our courses has a set of aims and objectives. If you examine the objectives for your course you will have a clear idea about what you will be expected to know or do by the end of the course. Read further and you will find our recommended reading list, a description of our assessment procedures etc. Finally you will find a timetable indicating teaching session titles and dates.

2 About the course This course has been designed to introduce you to the concepts of health informatics. Our intention is to give you the tools that you will need to find answers to clinical problems when you qualify. You will learn how information is created, interpreted, processed, stored and used in medicine. We will give you practical experience in the relevant aspects of health informatics and medical computing. All our lectures and course notes etc. will be available on this website. We recommend that you print out our study guides and lectures and place them in a folder for revision. Using the website versions of our documents will allow you to use the hyperlinks function, which will give you access to other sites of interest and alternative learning materials. We hope that you will enjoy this course. We wish to invite your feedback on all aspects of this course in terms of both its content and delivery. Teaching methods The medical informatics course uses four different teaching methods: a) lectures for background knowledge, b) computer practicals to build practical skills, c) self-paced computer skills learning delivered via an online NETG ECDL course and d) study guides. All our practicals and lectures (complete with brief explanatory notes), appear in PowerPoint format on the Medical Informatics website. The WWW lectures can be used for revision or to catch up on missed practicals. Each WWW lecture is linked to a study guide. The study guides are designed to guide your learning about the topic in question. They include recommended reading, links to other resources and self test exercises Self-paced computer skills course Using NetG it takes 8 hours each to complete the MSWord, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint self-paced learning programmes. Students should ensure that they have covered the self-paced materials in each topic area (e.g. MS Word etc.) before coming to the practical sessions.

3 Assessment Your assessment will be based on coursework (40%) and an endpoint examination (60%). The examination will consist of three parts: Submission of a learning Portfolio Final MCQ Final Computer skills examination Based on in course exercises 60 questions 8 stations We recommend 100% attendance at practicals. The WWW lectures and study guides have been designed to complement rather than replace the practical course. Thus a self-paced approach using our WWW resources on its own will not provide an adequate explanation of the fundamental concepts.

4 Nursing Informatics Course Aims: a) This course will introduce students to the science of information management as applied to nursing b) Students will learn how to find, manage and present information c) The students will develop their computer skills d) The students will learn about the complexity and uncertainty inherent in nursing Course objectives: By the end of this course: The students will be able to demonstrate proficiency in the use of software applications relevant to medicine e.g. Microsoft Office applications, Internet browsers etc. The students will proficient in the use of Internet and on-line database resources to find relevant information The students will be aware of how telematics and the science of information will influence how they manage information when they qualify. Students will understand some of the fundamental principles in the structure of medical knowledge and record systems Basic competencies Your first step is to ensure that you have basic computer literacy. We will assume that you have these basic competencies already. If you are concerned that you may lack some of these skills, contact Ben Kanagaratnam or extension 3016) for some one to one or small group tuition. Before you attempt this course you should be able to: Launch a computer application Save work to hard, floppy and network drives Print from a file using both a toolbar shortcut and a print menu Copy files from one drive to another Use standard word processing and spread sheet applications Use effectively, including sending attachments and graphics To access and navigate the world wide web using a web browser

5 4MB Reading List a) For critical reading and study design read the appropriate chapters in How to read a paper Patricia Greenhalgh 2 nd Edition BMJ Books 2001 nd edition b) Evidence Based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach EBM. E. Coiera 2 McGraw Hill Attendance We expect that students will attend at least 75% of all our practicals and lectures. Student Support If you are having difficulties with the volume of work in 1st Med., or are experiencing problems which are affecting your ability to work, please take the opportunity to talk to a member of our staff at your earliest convenience. We can offer a lot of help with time management, study skills, work planning. We can also direct you to the appropriate support should you have an emotional or physical health problem.

6 Course Timetable Lectures Date Title Time Venue The computer-what do I need to IM001 know about it? Computer functions and applications Library based tutorial- Accessing databases Internet services: WWW and E- Mail IM IM IM001 Practicals Date Monday AUC 1 (Group 1) Date Tuesday AUC 1 (Group 2) Basic Keyboard and Mouse skills Basic Keyboard and Mouse skills Windows and File Management Windows and File Management ECDL using a browser NetG ECDL Searching the Internet NetG ECDL using a browser NetG ECDL Searching the Internet NetG ECDL MS Word NetG ECDL MS Word NetG ECDL-MS Excel NetG ECDL-MS Excel NetG ECDL- MS Access NetG ECDL- MS Access NetG ECDL-PowerPoint NetG ECDL-PowerPoint NetG ECDL Introduction to and using e- mail, ECDL NetG No Date Fixed ECDL examination (revision to be negotiated) ECDL Introduction to and using e- mail, ECDL NetG No Date Fixed ECDL examination (revision to be negotiated)