Nursing Informatics Capstone – NURS 630

Course Description

This capstone course will provide the graduate student with the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the core competencies of the nursing informatics field (ANA, 2015) through identification of a problem, issue, or need in professional practice. A community assessment will be performed to identify the problem, issue or need at hand. Through consultation with their professor, the graduate student will then create an evidence-based project, to address this area of need through synthesis of advanced knowledge and skills, resulting in a nursing informatics deliverable as a means to foster improved outcomes.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Rationale

This course will allow the student to cumulate the knowledge learned throughout the program into the development of a comprehensive capstone project. The capstone project will incorporate theory and practice-related knowledge to Nursing Informatics. This course helps meet the standards of graduate-level nursing education as articulated by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the American Nurses Association’s Scope and Standards of Practice for Nursing Informatics.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in Module/Week 1.

Discussion Board Forums (2)

Discussion boards are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to submit a thread in response to the provided prompt. The thread must be at least 500 words with 1–3 scholarly source(s) to support the student’s response along with the integration of at least 2 biblical principles and/or Scripture. In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to 2 classmates’ threads. Each reply must be at least 250 words. The student must support each thread and reply with 1–2 citation(s) in current APA format.

Evidence-Based Project

The purpose of this assignment is to integrate clinical knowledge and research with practices that impact patient care, delivery and outcomes through the use of nursing informatics. This Evidence-Based Project will be completed in 4 parts:

Part 1: Discovery

The student must submit a 3–5-page, current-APA-formatted synopsis of: the chosen topic, identified problem and impact on patient care, delivery and/or outcomes as it relates to nursing informatics from the INFO 668 project. The synopsis must include project rationale and key stakeholders and identify how this project reflects one of the following: QSEN KSA Graduate standards, NDNQI Quality standards, Meaningful Use criteria, and/or the CMS Quality Initiatives. The student must include a properly formatted title page and a minimum of 5 scholarly resources published within the last 5 years.

Part 2: Evidence Summary

The student will submit a 3–5-page, current-APA-formatted synthesis of the literature supporting the discovery of knowledge in Part 1 of the Evidence-Based Project. The student must include 8–10 peer-reviewed references published within the last 5 years in a properly formatted reference page along with proper integration into the content of the literature synthesis.

Part 3: Translation, Integration, and Evaluation

The student will submit a 3–5-page, current-APA-formatted paper that determines if a policy, procedure, and/or protocol needs to be developed or changed based on the research. Once this has been determined, the student will discuss how this change will occur along with practice integration of the change and how the change will be evaluated moving forward. The student must include a properly formatted title page and a minimum of 5 scholarly resources published within the last 5 years.

Part 4: Digital Presentation

The student will create a digital poster presentation utilizing the Graduate Poster Template representing the Evidence-Based Project. The section titles and the Liberty University background must not be removed, but the color, font, size, and placement of all content is entirely up to the student. Sections include abstract; knowledge discovery; evidence summary; translation, integration and evaluation; implication for future research; references and visuals to represent the information within the project. The student can view the following tutorial to see how to add text to the poster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PyJZ8ZnwY4.

Nursing Informatics Analysis Paper

The Nursing Informatics Analysis Paper will require the student to analyze the different roles in nursing informatics. The properly formatted, current APA 5–7-page paper will include a summary of 3 researched job descriptions with position title, experience, required education, certification, and required competencies. The student will summarize the above criteria into a visual representation within the narrative showing the comparisons. The student will also choose one of the job descriptions, further discuss the role, and integrate appropriately the relevant functional areas and scope and standards of practice for nursing informatics. The student will include a current-APA formatted title page and reference page with a minimum of 5 articles that have been published within the last 5 years.

Professional Portfolio

In this 2-part process, the student must first create a Curriculum Vitae (CV) and then build upon his/her CV when creating his/her Professional Portfolio.

Part 1: Curriculum Vitae

The student must submit a comprehensive Curriculum Vitae (CV) summarizing licensure, certification, memberships, scholarships, professional development, any awards/recognition, education, and references. The student must address each element in a way that states fact and reflection in a concise manner. Evaluation of this assignment will be based on quality as prescribed by the grading rubric. The CV must be in current APA format.

Part 2: Portfolio Submission

The student must create a professional portfolio that will serve as an honest depiction of the student’s abilities and successes. It must effectively highlight and showcase accomplishments, talents, competencies, and performance throughout his or her career thus far. The student must include all of the following elements in the Portfolio: summary of professional expertise, curriculum vitae, professional goals, professional development, service, and a 2–3-page summary of the Evidence-Based project. All elements of the Portfolio must be completed using current APA format.

Typhon Logs (2)

The Typhon Log is the documentation of the 150-hour practice experience. These hours may be completed in a setting of the student’s choosing with instructor approval. Fifty hours from INFO 668’s project development may be used and must be documented in the first journal entry. All documentation will occur in Typhon. Instructions for setting up Typhon are found in the MSN Handbook. The log must be comprehensive in details related to the experiences in the field and reflective of the American Nurses Association’s Scope and Standards of Practice for Nurse Informatics competencies. The discussion must be in-depth and analytical. It must also include examples of how the student has applied the ANA competencies and readings from the textbooks and professional literature in the practicum setting. Any citations must be provided in current APA format.