Swedish District Nurses’ experiences on the use of information and communication technology for supporting people with serious chronic illness living at home – a case study

Abstract

The aim of this case study was to describe two District Nurses' (DN) experiences of using information and communication technology (ICT) to communicate with chronically ill people in their homes. An electronic messaging program via computers and mobile phones with an Internet connection was used, enabling DNs and the ill people to exchange messages to and from anywhere. The program comprised different virtual rooms, and communication was via text messages. The DNs in this study used the program two to four times each week from November 2003 to March 2004. Semi-structured interviews were performed before, during and after the implementation of the new technology and were analysed using thematic content analysis. The results showed that the DNs felt that the technology increased accessibility to nursing care through a more direct communication with the ill person meaning that a more trusting relationship could be created. The DNs also experienced that the use of ICT saved working time. This study indicates that the use of ICT for communication allowed the DN to better support a chronically ill person at home leading to improved home nursing care. This method of communication cannot replace physical presence, but can be seen as a complement to nursing care at home.

An evidence-based approach to the use of telehealth in long-term health conditions: development of an intervention and evaluation through pragmatic randomised controlled trials in patients with depression or raised cardiovascular risk

“…97,[102][103][104] Rural patients with moderate depression perceived an improvement in access from using telehealth. 99 Patients reported advantages of online interventions for mental health and behavioural problems, including convenience, access and anonymity, 98,99 but these were often balanced by concerns about lack of closeness and therapist trust, privacy and confidentiality fears and lack of visual cues.…”

Experience of nurses with using eHealth in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan: a qualitative study in primary and secondary healthcare

“…It saves their time [6-8], and provides communication and learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills [5,7,9-11]. Use of eHealth also increases communication and interaction between healthcare providers at different levels, reducing professional isolation for providers in remote areas [11,12].…”

“…Use of eHealth also increases communication and interaction between healthcare providers at different levels, reducing professional isolation for providers in remote areas [11,12]. Health providers, especially nurses, also enhance communication and interaction with their patients using eHealth, strengthening the nurse-patient relationship leading towards better care [6,9,13,14]. Healthcare providers also perceive eHealth to cost for the patients, increase their access to healthcare [6,7,15], provide better clinical care and management, and ensure continuity of care [16].…”

“…These challenges include increased workload [10,13,17-20], and dealing with technology-related problems [21,22], such as installation issues [22] and picture and sound quality issues. At times, they have found eHealth costly [7,18] and less user-friendly [6,14]. Healthcare providers have also expressed their lack of confidence and competencies with the use of information and communication technology [6,18,20,23,24].…”

Mobile technology: streamlining practice and improving care

“…Benefits have been demonstrated by Kiel and Resick (2013) who report the development of a virtual nurses' station using Blackboard technology to provide an area for nurses to exchange information, access necessary resources and print patient health-care information. District nurses (DNs) in Sweden have used an electronic messaging program via computers and mobile phones with an Internet connection to enable the exchange of messages between DNs and people with serious chronic illnesses living at home (Nilsson et al, 2010).…”