Information quality of a Nursing Information System depends on the nurses: a combined quantitative and qualitative evaluation.
OBJECTIVE
Providing access to patient information is the key factor in nurses' adoption of a Nursing Information System (NIS). In this study the requirements for information quality and the perceived quality of information are investigated. A teaching hospital in the Netherlands has developed a NIS as a module of the Hospital Information System. After the NIS was implemented in six wards in March 2009, the NIS was evaluated.


METHODS
A paper questionnaire was distributed among all 195 nurses, who used the system. Included in the research were 93 (48%) respondents. Also twelve NIS-users were interviewed, using the USE IT-model.


RESULTS
Nurses express a broad need for information of each patient. Although the history is essential, the information needs are not very specified. They expect complete, correct, up-to-date and accessible information of each patient. The information quality of the NIS is satisfactory, but needs improvement. Since the achieved quality of information depends largely on the data-entry by the nurses themselves, a controversy exists between the required information quality and the effort needed to accomplish this.


CONCLUSIONS
The aspect of data-entry by the user of the information is not included in Information Quality-literature. To further increase the quality of information, a redesign of both process and system seems necessary, which reduces the information needs of nurses and rewards the nurse for accurate data-entry.
Saxion University of Applied Sciences, M.H. Tromplaan 28, 7513 AB Enschede, The Netherlands. m.b.michel@saxion.nl
Margreet B
MB
Michel-Verkerke
D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D036301:Qualitative Research