Australian nurses' and midwives' knowledge of computers and their attitudes to using them in their practice

Abstract

Information from the study has assisted planners and educators to identify clusters of nurses to target for interventions in this area. Results will also be used to assess the success of any interventions.

Preparing for professional practice: How well does professional training equip health and social care practitioners to engage in evidence-based practice?

“…For nurses and physiotherapists who are more likely to move across junior posts, this may be an experience they do not encounter until a relatively senior stage in their career. Despite the importance they accorded research evidence, respondents across all four professional groups were less proactive about using research resources, with around two thirds of respondents accessing bibliographic databases twice or less during the previous twelve-month period, which is similar to the findings of Webster et al (2003) in relation to nurses and McColl et al (1998) in relation to General Practitioners indicating that this is not simply a nursing phenomenon. Given that a significant proportion of practitioners in our study had been qualified for less than 12 months, the number of professionals who had made use of bibliographic databases in their professional lives, as opposed to during their time as a student, could well be much lower.…”

“…There have been a number of surveys of nurses' attitudes to and use of research (Rodgers, 1994(Rodgers, , 2000aMcSherry, 1997;Parahoo, 1999), as well as of other professional groups (Booth et al, 2003;Zipoli and Kennedy, 2005;Cameron et al, 2005). Similarly there have also been surveys of barriers to nurses' research utilization (Webster et al, 2003) and that of other professional groups (Humphris et al, 2000;Curtin and Jaramazovic, 2001). Surveys have also been used to ascertain the information sources used to inform evidence-based practice of nurses (Griffiths and Riddington, 2001) and other professional groups (Vallino-Napoli and Reilly, 2004;McKenna et al, 2005).…”

“…Webster et al (2003) found that only one third of nurses from a sample of 590 nurses in Australia used computers regularly to access resources such as MEDLINE, CI-NAHL and the Cochrane Library. Over 30% of nurses believed that accessing research evidence, as an individual practitioner was an ineffective use of time that detracted from patient care.…”

Factors Affecting Nurses' Attitudes Toward Computers in Healthcare

“…Nurses argue that use of computers in healthcare is not in accordance with holistic and humanistic approaches, which represent the main philosophy of nursing, and that computers are complex devices to work with, to justify their resistance to use computers in healthcare. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] However, it is being increasingly acknowledged in recent years that technology and therefore computerization will contribute to the decision-making capabilities and skills of nurses, improve the quality of healthcare, and reduce the costs of services. 5,13 Because of the accelerated development of technology, hospitals have expanded the use of computers to many areas.…”

Undergraduate paramedic students’ attitudes to e-learning: findings from five university programs

“…The major factor affecting attitudes today is anxiety; with there being a negative relationship between anxiety about computer and attitudes towards computers (Popovich et al 2008;Hegney et al 2006;Webster et al 2003). In other words, e-learning needs to be appropriate for students' level of ability with computers and using technology, otherwise it will be frustrating (Link and Marz 2006).…”