While substantial evidence links information technology (IT)
with improved patient safety, care quality, access, and efficiency,
nurses must demonstrate competencies in computers, informatics,
and information literacy in order to use IT for practice, education,
and research. The nursing profession has established IT competencies
for all nurses at beginning and experienced levels. Newly
revised standards also articulate role-specific expectations for advanced
practice nurses. Unfortunately, there is a concern that many
nurses may not possess these capabilities and that nurse educators
are not prepared to teach them. IT competency evaluations, which
have focused predominately on nursing education, indicate novice
skill levels for most faculty and students. In numerous studies, again
conducted largely in nursing education, significant improvement
in IT competencies has been achieved only with intensive interventions.
Deficits in IT competencies are a significant concern, because
the federal government has mandated full implementation of Electronic
Health Records (EHR) by 2014. EHR will require all nurses
to use IT to deliver, document, and obtain reimbursement for patient
care. In response to these concerns, two recent initiatives, the
“Health Information Technology Scholars (HITS)” and “Technology
Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER)” projects,
have been launched. By enhancing IT competencies, these projects
will enable nurses to use evidence-based practice and other innovations
to transform clinical care, education, and research. This
report updates psychiatric-mental health nurses on the IT competencies
literature, recent enhancement initiatives and innovations,
and their implications for the specialty