Nurses participate in weekend immersion program at Mayo Clinic

Thirty registered nurses from Arizona, California, Nebraska and Alabama enjoyed a Weekend Immersion in Nursing Informatics (WINI) program at the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, April 27-29.

Designed for nurses who want to expand or clarify their working knowledge of informatics, the conference focused on trends and issues in the practice and provided a comprehensive examination of nursing informatics theories, including the impact of human factors, the systems life cycle approach, methods for managing information databases and an information technology overview. The content provided an opportunity for experienced informatics nurses to prepare for the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Nursing Informatics Certification exam and gain nursing informatics specific contact hour continuing credit.  It also gave new informatics nurses an understanding of the breadth of knowledge and skills expected of the role.

The program was hosted by ASU’s Department of Biomedical Informatics and taught by Carol Bickford and Kathleen Smith. Both faculty are board certified in nursing informatics by the ANCC American Nurses Credentialing Center and Fellows of the Health Information and Management Systems Society.  The WINI faculty received the Information Technology Knowledge Advance Award from Sigma Theta Tau, International in 2001.  Faculty also received the Outstanding Nurse Educator Award from the Maryland Nurses Association in 2003.