Global Health Informatics Competency Recommendation Frameworks

These Global Health Informatics Competency Recommendation Frameworks compile recommended core international informatics competencies reflective of many countries, scientific societies and research projects.

Determining these frameworks involved three phases:

1. Compilation of national case studies submitted by global committee members from Australia, Brazil, China/Taiwan, Finland, Germany (inclusive of Austria and Switzerland), Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal, Scotland and the United States.
2. Deployment of a survey composed of 24 areas of core competencies in clinical informatics within five domains: 1) clinical nursing 2) nursing management 3) quality management 4) IT management in nursing 5) coordination of interprofessional care. The questionnaire was sent to 21 countries yielding participation from 43 experts to truly capture a global perspective.
3. Creation of the first version of the framework—focused on nursing—derived from case studies, survey results and stakeholder input. This framework was populated with international recommendations for cognitive competencies in nursing, aimed at providing a grid to host knowledge about informatics competencies, professional roles, priorities and practical experience.

Subsequently, the TIGER International Competency Synthesis Project (ICSP) and the EU*US eHealth Work Project worked to describe and validate the TIGER Initiative’s framework of global health informatics core competencies focused on a broad range of health professionals and their interprofessional collaboration with survey input from 51 countries and 22 global case studies. Together, the findings populated the second recommendation framework to help measure, inform, educate and advance the development of a skilled workforce throughout the EU, U.S. and around the world.

The first framework aims at providing a grid to embrace knowledge about competencies, professional roles, priorities and practical experience. The framework refers to the term health informatics in nursing to demonstrate its rooting in nursing informatics and its openness towards other healthcare professionals and their interaction with nurses. Learning and teaching on the individual level are active processes of constructing the educational space. Therefore, these recommendations work as a framework that guides and stimulates learners and teachers alike. The framework should leave enough room for individual creativity, aspiration for innovation and personal fulfillment.

The second framework is based on a proven methodology and well on its way with global findings and local exemplar case studies. It contributes to the overall discourse on how to shape health informatics education to improve quality and safety of care by enabling useful and successful health information systems.