Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER) - An Overview

On November 1, 2006, 120 nursing practice, education and informatics leaders concluded a national summit by creating an actionable plan to bridge the quality chasm with information technology. During the two-day invitational meeting, representatives from over 40 nursing organizations collaborated with colleagues from key federal agencies, other professional healthcare organizations, and the private sector. Together they articulated a vision for the future of nursing that enables nurses to use informatics in practice and education to provide safe, quality care and defined steps over the next 3 years toward the 10-year vision.

TIGER Vision

• Allow informatics tools, principles, theories and practices to be used by nurses to make healthcare safer, effective, efficient, patient-centered, timely and equitable.
• Interweave enabling technologies transparently into nursing practice and education, making information technology the stethoscope for the 21st century

TIGER Mission

Engage all stakeholders to take action to transform nursing education

• Nursing Professional Organizations

• Academic Institutions

• Healthcare Delivery Organizations

• Information Technology Vendors

• Government and Policy Makers

• Health information management professionals and health sciences librarians

TIGER Goals

1. Individual nursing organization will develop collaborative action plans to increase the knowledge and skills of nurses to practice in an informatics rich and consumer centric health care environment

2. Identify organizations or partnerships that can help them accomplish their action plans

3. Agree to commit a point person who will respond to evaluation surveys and reporting mechanisms

Virtual Demonstration Center Goals

In order to support the above goals, TIGER is creating in conjunction with our partners and colleagues, a virtual demonstration center.   To create this future vision we must not only build on what is known today, but also conceptualize what could be possible.  Thus, the purpose of the TIGER Virtual Demonstration Center (TVDC) is to explode current thinking about what healthcare is, by engaging visitors to the demonstration lab in potential healthcare futures that demonstrate innovative, high-quality, and maximally efficient care scenarios in compelling ways. Visitors to the Center will better be able to participate in building improved healthcare future states. The TVDC is intended to provide a virtual “Gallery Walk” to all nurses, nursing faculty and nursing students via web access to nurse-focused technology applications. The TVDC will provide exemplars of best practice for technology utilization, contact resources and virtual networking opportunities.

Virtual Demonstration Center Vision                                                             

The TIGER Virtual Demonstration Center will be a dynamic Internet and possibly a physical destination to demonstrate highly effective and efficient, technology-enabled, solutions of exemplary healthcare delivery systems of the next three to ten years.  Innovative and disruptive approaches will be highlighted. Access to the Center will be from anywhere the Internet is available.

Strategic Goals of the Center

Create a Virtual Demonstration Gallery/Center to Showcase Best Nursing Practices through the effective use of IT:

1. Provide visibility to the 10 year vision of IT-enabled nursing practice and education to broader healthcare audience.
2. Demonstrate the breadth and depth of IT resources in use by nurses to enhance their practice and educational environments.
3. Demonstrate collaboration between industry, healthcare organizations academic institutions, and professional organizations to create educational modules for nurses that are based upon informatics competencies.
4. Provide universal accessibility to this demonstration for all nursing stakeholder groups.
5. Use practice examples from different practice environments that can demonstrate best practices, results of research, case studies and lessons learned by partnering with nursing professional organizations.
6. Demonstrate how integrated IT systems impact nurses and the quality and safety of patient care.

Benefits and Virtual Demonstration Center Outcomes

1. Nurses that can visualize the benefits of an IT-enabled future will be more likely to fully engage in the electronic health record within their practice setting.

2. Most exposure to IT capabilities are site-specific (exception is nursing informatics resources).

3. Most academic institutions have very limited accessibility to IT demonstration resources to use within their curriculum.

4. Most IT training occurs in the field when a new system is implemented and focuses on system mechanics vs. user benefits and impact on patient care.

5. Universal adoption of informatics competencies for all nurses will require universal access to informatics resources