title: Computer literacy of nurses in a community hospital: where are we today?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  As the use of electronic health records continues to grow, it is imperative that nurses gain competency and confidence with computers and computer software applications.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive study of licensed registered nurses at a community hospital was completed to measure self-perceived computer literacy. The Gassert/McDowell Computer Literacy Survey© was used. The Pearson correlation was used to assess for a relationship between year of birth and computer literacy scores. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were conducted to assess for a relationship between educational level and computer literacy scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The nurses had little to no experience with nearly half of the items surveyed. A moderately positive correlation was seen between year of birth and computer literacy. The correlation between nurses' educational level and computer literacy was found to be statistically significant (p ≤ .05)
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Basic computer classes may be beneficial to nurses, with training focused on specific skills, such as bibliographic database searching, to improve evidence-based practice.
authors.affiliation: Delaware Hospice, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware 19810, USA. ccampb@comcast.net
authors.forename: Carlene J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Dorothea E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: McDowell
mesh_terms: D003197:Computer Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000379:methods*; D006764:Hospitals, Community / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013192:Staff Development / Q000379:methods*