Nurses' confidence and experience in using information technology

Abstract

Objective: In order to support policy planning for health, nurses in Australia were surveyed to determine their current use of information technology and barriers to that use. Design: A self-administered postal survey. Setting: Nurses throughout Australia. Subjects: The survey was distributed to 10,000 members of the Australian Nursing Federation. Main outcome measures: Data on nurses' experience and confidence in use of computers and information and technology across all sectors of nursing in Australia. Results: Of the 4330 respondents (response rate 43.3%), 86% used computers at work. Most frequent uses were for managing patient records, continuing professional education, communication, accessing policies and procedures and accessing clinical results. Experience in the use of information technology ranged from 90% for a common application such as word processing to 64% for reference tools. Confidence in use of the technology was generally low with fewer than 25% of nurses stating they were very confident in using any software application. Results varied by level of nurse, their age, and length of time in nursing. Assistants in nursing and enrolled nurses had significantly lower experience and confidence than registered nurses, while younger nurses and those with the least time in nursing were more experienced and confident. Conclusion: For most of Australia's nurses, experience and confidence in use of information technology is confined to basic computer and common applications. In order to use information technology to support health delivery, action to increase access for nurses and remove barriers to use is urgently required. Employers and policy makers at all levels of government must work with nurses to adopt strategies to increase their access to and use of information technology.