Self-assessment of nursing informatics competencies and attitudes among baccalaureate-nursing students

Background The growing complexity of the healthcare field and nursing profession necessitates the nurses to incorporate evidence-based nursing informatics into everyday practices to manage acute and chronic illnesses. Aim This research aimed at self-assessing the nursing informatics competencies and attitudes among baccalaureate-nursing students. Participants and methods A descriptive, correlational design was used in this research, which was conducted in the Nursing Department of Applied Medical Sciences College, University of Hafr Al-Batin. The sampling consisted of 103 baccalaureate-nursing students. The data-collection tools included the adapted self-assessment nursing informatics competencies and attitudes toward using of nursing informatics in the healthcare system generally and the nursing profession specifically. Results This study illustrated that 70.5% of participants assessed themselves as competent, 21% of them were beginners, and only 8.5% of them were novices in the nursing informatics competencies, as well as the majority of them hold positive attitudes toward using of nursing informatics in the healthcare system and the nursing profession. Conclusion The study concluded that the baccalaureate-nursing students recognized the essentiality and magnitude of informatics in nursing education for providing safe, effective, and high-quality patient care. This research illuminated that the nursing students who hold a high level of informatics competencies had positive attitudes toward using of nursing informatics in the healthcare system and the nursing profession. Recommendations There is a need to integrate the nursing informatics subject into undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Moreover, there are continuing efforts from researchers in this area to address the challenges, barriers, and facilitators in nursing education and practice.