[Information technology and hospital care: reflection on the meaning of the work].
The purpose of this paper is to present the experience of nurses since the introduction of information technology in hospital work processes. It analyzes the meaning of information technology within the subjectivity and perception of healthcare in nursing work in a general hospital. As a theoretical background, it takes studies of work psychodynamics/psychopathology, referred to healthcare work processes and their repercussions on worker health. This qualitative inquiry strives to understand the significance of this subject in nursing routines. The field research was based on semi-structured interviews and non-systematic observation of some nursing activities, noting some resistance to change among the nurses, with difficulties in organizing the work and introducing them to new ways of handling their tasks. Faced by a machine, they feel trapped and isolated. This leads to the conclusion that the implementation of information technology interferes significantly in the work processes of the nurses participating in this study, and may adversely affect their health in the future.
Divisão de Enfermagem, Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro. cmbmf@uol.com.br
Cláudia Maria Barboza Machado
CM
Fonseca
Mônica Loureiro
ML
dos Santos
D001938:Brazil; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D006761:Hospitals; D033181:Information Dissemination; D009729:Nursing; D013672:Technology