Baccalaureate Nursing Faculty Performance of Nursing Computer Literacy Skills and Curriculum Integration of These Skills Through Teaching Practice

This article describes a cross-sectional survey research study designed to collect data from nurse educators regarding their self-reported competence in the performance of 60 nursing computer literacy skills, as well as self-reported levels of integration of these skills, through teaching practice, into the curricula of their respective baccalaureate nursing programs. Data were received from 184 respondents representing 18 publicly funded, National League for Nursing-accredited, college and university generic baccalaureate degree programs in the New England region of the United States. Study findings revealed that 21 of the 60 skills were being performed "well" or "very well" as reported by 50% or more of respondents, while in the area of curriculum integration through teaching practice, only 3 of the 60 skills were being integrated into teaching practice either "moderately" or "extensively" as reported by 50% or more of respondents. Another major finding of this research study strongly suggested that faculty who have the ability to perform requisite nursing computer literacy skills comfortably are more likely to integrate these skills into the curriculum through their teaching practices (r = .76; p<.01). This article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study findings for nursing education.