Computer-based nursing documentation in nursing homes: A feasibility study.
The burden of paper-based nursing documentation has led to increasing complaints and decreasing job satisfaction amongst aged-care workers in Australian nursing homes. The automation of nursing documentation has been identified as one of the possible strategies to address this issue. A major obstacle to the introduction of IT solutions, however, has been a prevailing doubt concerning the ability and/or the willingness of aged-care workers to accept such innovation. This research investigates the attitudes of aged-care workers towards adopting IT innovation. Questionnaire survey were conducted in 13 nursing homes around the Illawarra and Sydney regions in Australia. The survey found that an unexpected 89.3% of participants supported the strategy of introducing electronic nursing documentation systems into residential aged-care facilities. 94.3% of them would use such a system depending on circumstances. Despite a shortage of computers in the workplace, which is a major barrier, this research provides strong evidence that care workers in residential aged-care facilities are willing to accept electronic nursing documentation practice and the uptake of information technology in residential aged-care is feasible in Australia.
Yu
Ping
P
Health Informatics Research Center, Faculty of Informatics, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
Qiu
Yiyu
Y
Crookes
Patrick
P
D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D009735:Nursing Homes