The importance of ict skills and digital literacy in the health care profession of nursing

In the 21st century, knowledge and competencies related to ICT skills and digital literacy are important for efficiency in any profession, including nursing. In the field of nursing, having the ICT skills and digital literacy enables the professionals to save the amount of time spent on administrative work and dedicate it to patients’ health care. ICT skills and digital literacy in the field of nursing integrates nursing knowledge, computer knowledge and information knowledge in recognizing, collecting, processing and using data and information in nursing practice, administration, education, research and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Mentioning informatics in nursing, we usually think of recording the cost of patient care and health care documentation (within the hospital information system), but nurses use informatics on a daily basis in clinical practice, and during administration, during education, in research. Continuous professional development is a feature of all health professions, including nursing. The basic assumption is that nurses have to acquire additional knowledge and skills upon completion of formal education. The goal of professional development is to ensure safe and effective patient care. The aim of this paper is to confirm the stated hypotheses. The paper will present the research conducted in the segment of the self-assessment of knowledge, skills and competencies in nursing related to ICT skills and digital literacy. The methods used in the research are the following: theoretical and curriculum research, observation and measurement, as well as a questionnaire. Following the presentation of the research results, provided at the end of the paper, improvements related to the educational process (regular and lifelong) in the field of nursing will be proposed.