Building Competency from Day One: The Role of Technology in Onboarding New Nurses

Nearly a decade ago, I began my nursing career and advanced to Nurse Manager within the largest rural health system in the U.S. Starting a nursing career is both exhilarating and challenging. It’s a great time for nurse educators to review how work is done and tracked because it’s a process that can drain resources - time, money, and talent.?

Those first few days on the job are crucial as new nurses transition from academic learning to real-world clinical practice. And giving them access to the information they need right from the start will only benefit the new hire, the nurse managers, the department, and the hospital.?

Having worked for years in a paper-based environment, I can tell you, digital competency management is a vital asset. It significantly enhances the onboarding process. Let me explain:

Digital Competency: The Foundation of Effective Onboarding

Digital competency—the ability to effectively use digital tools and technologies—empowers new nurses to navigate electronic health records (EHRs), utilize telehealth platforms, and engage with various medical software confidently. This proficiency not only streamlines administrative tasks but also enhances patient care by ensuring accurate and efficient information management. The American Nurses Association highlights that today’s technology enables nurses to improve efficiency, better manage workloads, and increase team communication.

Competency Management Systems Provide Real-Time Insights

Digital platforms facilitate continuous learning and assessment. Competency management systems enable educators to track progress, provide immediate feedback, and tailor training programs to individual needs. A study published in The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing found that implementing a digital competency management system not only reduced training costs by $500,000 but also increased job satisfaction among nursing professional development practitioners by decreasing workload and creating meaningful mechanisms to accurately assess staff knowledge and skills.

The Dossier Difference: A Smarter Approach to Competency Management

At Dossier, we’ve designed an all-in-one, one-for-all competency platform that takes the complexity out of tracking, managing, and updating nurse competencies. Whether you’re overseeing the onboarding process or ensuring long-term compliance, our system makes it simple to assign, update, and monitor skills with ease.

With Dossier’s intuitive dashboard, you can:

• Access all competency checklists in one place, ensuring new nurses start with the right skills from day one.
• Instantly assign or update competencies and push them to the right audience with a single click—whether it’s new goals, requirement reminders, or learning content.
• Track and manage onboarding, annual competencies, emergency skills, and auditor reports all from a centralized, easy-to-use interface.
• Review data at a high level or drill down for in-depth insights on staff progress.
• Seamlessly aggregate learning from multiple sources, including LMS modules, side-by-side learning, simulations, and more.

Setting Nurses Up for Success from Day One

By embracing technology from day one, new nurses are better equipped to provide high-quality patient care and adapt to the dynamic healthcare environment. For those looking to enhance their onboarding programs, exploring comprehensive competency checklists can be invaluable. These tools ensure that new nurses develop the necessary skills and knowledge efficiently and effectively.

Incorporating technology into nurse onboarding is not just a modern approach—it’s an essential strategy to build competency from day one, setting the foundation for a successful nursing career.

Want to see the Dossier Difference in action? Let’s set up a quick call—we’ll show you why nurses call Dossier a game changer!

Authored by Casey Riedberger