COMPUTERS

• Competency Levels of Nursing Informatics

  • Technical level
  • Utility level
  • Leadership level
• Technical level


  • Related to the actual psychomotor use of computers and other technological equipment
  • Includes the ability to use selected applications in a comfortable and knowledgeable way.
• Utility level


  • Related to the process of using technology within nursing practice, education, research, and administration.
  • Includes the process of applying evidenced based practice, critical thinking and accountability in the use of selected application in an comfortable and knowledgeable way.
• Leadership Level


  • Related to the ethical and management issues and using technology within nursing practice, education, research and administration.
  • Includes the process of applying accountability, client privacy and confidentiality and quality assurance in documentation in the use of selected application in a comfortable and knowledgeable way.
• Competency Levels of Expertise in Nursing Informatics

  • User level
  • Modifier level
  • Innovator level
• User level – beginner level


  • Indicates nurses who demonstrate core nursing informatics competencies
  • Includes practicing nurses, nursing administration, nurse researchers and educators who can minimally demonstrate basic knowledge in the use of technology
  • The basic level that all Nurses should possess no matter the area of practice.
• Modifier level – intermediate level


  • Indicates nurses who demonstrate intermediate nursing informatics competencies.
  • Includes practicing nurses, nursing administration, nurse researchers, educators who have mastered basic skills and use technology in inventive ways in their practice.
• Innovator level – advanced level


  • Indicates nurses who demonstrate advanced and specialized nursing informatics competencies
  • Includes practicing nurses, nursing administration, nurse researchers, educators who have mastered expert skills and use technology in designing, planning, coordinating the user of technologies and informatics theory in nursing.
• Computer


  A device that computes, especially a programmable electronic machine that performs high-speed mathematical or logical operations or that assembles, stores, correlates, or otherwise processes information.
• Computer


  Is a machine that uses electronic components to perform calculations and repetitive and complex procedures, process text, and manipulate data and signals.
• 4 Main Functions of the Computer

  1. Accepts data
  2. Processes data
  3. Produces output
  4. Stores results
• Computer Hardware


  • All of the physical components of the machine itself.
  • The basic hardware of a computer includes the electronic circuits, microchips, processors, and the motherboard itself inside the computer housing.
  • Includes devices that are peripheral to the main computer box
• Main Components of a Typical Computer

  1. Central processing unit
  2. Memory
  3. Motherboard
  4. Power supply
  5. Hard disk
  6. Operating system
  7. Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) Controller
  8. Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus
  9. Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
  10. Accelerated Graphics (PORT)
  11. Sound card
  12. Graphics card
• CPU (Central Processing Unit)


  • The “brains” of the computer
  • Consist of one arithmetic and logic units, and memory.
  • CPU chip is attached to the motherboard.
• Memory


  It is where the data are stored
• Types of memory:

  1. Read Only Memory (ROM)-Permanent storage and cannot be erased
  2. Random Access Memory (RAM)- temporary storage, speed is expressed in megahertz (MHz)
  3. Basic Input/ output system (BIOS)- establish basic communication upon turning the computer on
  4. Caching- storing of frequently used data in RAM
  5. Virtual memory- located in the hard disk to temporarily store data, swap it in and out of RAM as needed
• Motherboard


  is a content of any computer box. It is a thin, flat sheet made of a firm, non-conducting material on which the internal components-printed circuits, chips, slots, and so on-of the computer are mounted.
• Power Supply


  regulates electricity used by the computer
• Hard Disk


  Large-capacity permanent storage to hold programs and documents
• Operating System


  allows the user to interface with the computer
• Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) Controller


  primary interface for the hard drive
• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus


  allows connection of additional components to the computer with series of slots on the motherboard
• SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)


  another method of adding additional devices (eg. Hard drives, scanners)
• Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)


  very high-speed connection used by the graphics card to interface with the computer
• Sound Card


  used by the computed to play and record audio
• Graphics card


  translates image data from the computer into a displayed format in the computer
• Input and Output devices


  These are wired to a controller that is plugged into the slots or circuit boards of the computer.
• INPUT DEVICES


  -It allows the computer to receive information from the outside world.
• Examples of Input devices:

  1. Keyboard
  2. Mouse
  3. Touch screen
  4. Light pen
  5. Voice
  6. Scanner
  7. Security devices – detects user’s fingerprints, retinal prints, voiceprints, other physical characteristics that identify users who have clearance to use the system.
  8. Electrodes on patient’s body for computerized physiologic monitoring.
• Output Devices


  It allows the computer to report its result to the external world in form of text, data files, sound, graphics, or signals to other devices.
• Examples of Output Devices:

  1. Monitor (display screen)
  2. Printer
• Storage Media


  Includes the main memory but also external devices on which programs and data are stored.
• Examples of Storage Media

  1. Hard drive
  2. Diskettes
  3. CD-ROM – is a form of optical storage. Optical media are read by laser “eye” rather than a magnet (Columbia Encyclopaedia, 2003)
  4. USB (Universal Serial Bus)/ Flash drive
• Other output devices

  • Magnetic tape drives – it run magnetic tape which is similar to the tape in any music tape player. Popular in 1980s-1990s but today are obsolete for home use.
  • Zip drives – more similar to ordinary floppy disks, but are of higher capacity.
• • The term bits and bytes refer to how the machine stores information at the lowest, or ‘closest to machine registers and memory,” level.
  • Computer do not process information as words or numbers.
  • They handle information as words or numbers.
  • They handle information in bytes. A byte is made up of 8 bits.
• • The CPU speed is measured in cycles per seconds – clock speed of the computer.
  • Megahertz(MHz) – speed of 1 million cycles per second.
• Classes of computers

  1. Analog Computer
  2. Digital computer
  3. Hybrid Computers
• Types of computers

  • Supercomputers
  • Mainframe computers
  • Microcomputers
  • Handheld computers
• Analog Computer


  • operates on continuous physical or electrical magnitudes, measuring ongoing continuous analog quantities such as voltage, current, temperature, and pressure.
  • Selected physiologic monitoring equipment, which accepts continuous input/output signals, is in the analog class of computers.
• What does an analog computer operate on?

  Continuous physical or electrical magnitudes