NURS FPX 6109 Assessment 1 Vila Health: Educational Technology Needs Assessment

Name

Capella university

NURS-FPX 6109 Integrating Technology into Nursing Education

Prof. Name

Date

Educational Technology Assessment Needs

Evaluating the necessity for educational technology presents a significant challenge for nursing leaders. Conducting a thorough needs assessment is essential to enhance the effectiveness of continuing professional education programs. As technology continues to play an increasingly vital role worldwide, nursing education is no exception. Despite these advancements, many educators and clinical trainers face challenges accessing or effectively utilizing innovative tools to support professional growth. This report focuses on identifying the educational technology needs of nursing staff at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The assessment seeks to recommend solutions that will strengthen clinical expertise, improve patient care outcomes, and foster ongoing professional development in the hospital’s pediatric healthcare specialties by addressing these gaps.

How Nurses Currently Use the Educational Technology

At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the center uses educational technologies mainly in continuing education portals. This platform provides constant ‘anytime, anywhere’ access to many resources, including registration for academic activities, educational videos and archived Grand Rounds, and other training programs like CME and CNE. Simulation and emergency training are critical because they improve the hands-on experience obtained during critical care training. This saves time and can be done from the comfort of one’s home since the continuing education requirements can also be downloaded from the portal (Cincinnati Children’s, 2024).

While claiming to provide extensive functionality, there is still some degree of ignorance regarding the integration of these tools into typical nursing practice. Additional data on users’ interactions, program completion, and how the features of the designated portal helped in clinical terms is still scarce. Further, there are questions of whether all the nursing staff uses such resources equally without challenges like technical problems or time-pressured hindrances to otherwise beneficial platforms like this one.

The Comparison with the Desired Technology State

Current State of Educational Technology Use

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center nurses utilize the hospital’s Continuing Education Portal to access various educational resources, including online videos, Grand Rounds, simulation training, and certifications for various courses (CME, CNE). The platform is accessible 24/7 and allows nurses to register for activities, track educational progress, and download transcripts and certificates. However, there is limited data on user engagement, completion rates, and how these resources impact clinical skills or patient outcomes. Additionally, some nurses may face technological access or usability barriers, and there may be inconsistencies in how effectively the platform is integrated into daily workflows (Cincinnati Children’s, 2024).

Desired State (Best Practices in Nursing Education)

Best practices in nursing education emphasize integrating technology that supports continuous, individualized learning, easy access to educational content, and tools that foster clinical decision-making in real-time. This includes mobile access, personalized learning pathways, real-time feedback on performance, and more interactive, immersive technologies (e.g., virtual or augmented reality) for hands-on learning (Iqbal & Campbell, 2023). Ideally, educational technology should be integrated into daily nursing workflows, allowing nurses to access training and information as needed while providing data on competency development, patient outcomes, and performance trends. The Gap analysis is conducted as follows:

Aspect	Current State	Desired State	Gap
User Engagement & Completion Rates	The Continuing Education Portal provides access to resources but lacks tracking of user engagement and completion rates.	Robust tracking of learner engagement and course completion rates to ensure active participation and achievement of goals.	The current system does not monitor user engagement or provide data on course completion, limiting the ability to assess learning effectiveness.
Integration with Daily Practice	Nurses access training via the portal but may not always integrate it into their clinical workflows.	Real-time access to educational content integrated into daily practice, especially in high-pressure clinical environments.	There is a disconnect between educational resources and the immediate application of learning within the clinical workflow.
Technological Accessibility	The platform is accessible 24/7, but technical issues or usability challenges may prevent full engagement, especially on mobile.	A mobile-friendly, intuitive platform that works seamlessly across devices and is easily accessible for all nursing staff.	Usability and access issues may limit some nurses’ ability to engage with the platform, especially in fast-paced environments.
Advanced Learning Tools	Current offerings include online videos and archived content but lack advanced simulation tools or interactive learning methods.	Advanced simulation tools, such as virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR), can be used to create immersive, hands-on learning experiences.	The current technology does not provide immersive or interactive learning opportunities that could enhance clinical skills and decision-making abilities.

Metrics Used and Their Assessment

Currently, the metrics used to assess the effectiveness of educational technology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center are primarily focused on quantitative data, such as course completion rates, user engagement, and access to materials. While these metrics provide a basic understanding of participation, they do not fully capture the long-term impact of education on clinical practice or patient outcomes. The existing system lacks real-time feedback mechanisms and does not track how well nurses apply the knowledge gained through training in their day-to-day clinical work. As a result, the hospital has limited insight into the effectiveness of educational technology in improving nursing practice or patient care.

To enhance the quality, interpretation, and use of data, it is recommended that more detailed data points be incorporated, such as time spent on each learning module, post-training evaluations, and follow-up assessments. Additionally, integrating real-time feedback and linking educational outcomes directly to patient care metrics, such as reductions in complications or improved patient satisfaction, would offer a more comprehensive picture of how education influences clinical practice (Sendak et al., 2020). By refining these data collection processes, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center would be able to evaluate the efficacy of its educational technology better, ensuring that the learning experiences lead to improved nursing performance and, ultimately, better patient outcomes.

Organizational Mission Aligned with the Technology

Educational technology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center aligns very closely with the strategic mission of the hospital to improve child health and transform care delivery through integrated research, education, and innovation. The application of educational technology in improving continuing professional education for nursing staff directly supports the strategic goal of the hospital: to provide the best medical outcomes, quality of life, and patient experience (Cincinnati Children’s, n.d.). Only trained and updated nurses familiar with the latest pediatric care practices and evidence-based approaches may improve patient care, providing better clinical outcomes.

Another great aspect of educational technology is fostering a culture of innovation that allows access to the most recent research and medical developments through online modules, simulation labs, and other digital tools (Kuzmenko et al., 2023). This is in line with the hospital’s commitment to globally recognized education that ensures nursing staff are not only well-skilled but also continuous learners and improvers. As a result, the hospital will be able to meet and exceed its goal of providing high-value care, both today and in the future, while ensuring that the education of healthcare professionals supports the evolving needs of the community, nation, and the world.

Recommendations for Technology Use

Based on the study’s findings, this paper advocates for strengthening educational technology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center by increasing the use of more innovative mechanisms of assessment real-time assessment tools. This might extend to using virtual patient simulations in simulation laboratories, engaging students in timely performance assessment on basic clinical decision-making tasks, and even broadening the application of data analytics to monitor the application of learned competencies in field-based practice (Mardani et al., 2020).

Likewise, many post-training outcomes correlate with patients’ care quality; for instance, in hospital patients’ care, the skills shown by staff would also be tracked, which would help provide a link between education and clinical competency. These changes will help towards the hospital’s vision of enhancing child health and redesigning care, as the staff, including the nurses, will be using the best information available in the delivery of quality care.

References

Cincinnati Children’s. (n.d.). About Cincinnati Children’s. Www.cincinnatichildrens.org. https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/about

Cincinnati Children’s. (2024). Continuing professional education | Cincinnati children’s Hospital. Cincinnatichildrens.org. https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/professional/continuing-education

Iqbal, M. Z., & Campbell, A. G. (2023). Real-time hand interaction and self-directed machine learning agents in immersive learning environments. Computers & Education X Reality, 3, 100038–100038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cexr.2023.100038

Kuzmenko, A., Chernova, T. G., Kravchuk, O., Kabysh, M., & Holubenko, T. (2023). Innovative educational technologies: European experience and its implementation in the training of specialists in the context of war and global challenges of the 21st century. Journal of Curriculum and Teaching, 12(5), 68–68. https://doi.org/10.5430/jct.v12n5p68