Statement of the Problem:
One of the great challenges facing healthcare professionals is the effective management of an ever-increasing amount of clinical-related health information. A crucial dimension of that challenge is to make the information accessible at times of decision making. Mobile information terminals have the potential to address that challenge by bringing the most relevant information directly to the point of care.
Specific Aims:
This study evaluated an initiative of the Ontario Ministry of Health's Ontario Nursing Secretariat that provided nurses with mobile technologies such as PDAs and tablet personal computers, to increase their access to research evidence.
Setting and Sample:
The setting was 30 acute care, long-term care, home care, and correctional organizations. The sample consisted of 490 nurses, 220 at follow-up.
Methods:
A longitudinal mixed-methods design involving questionnaires (Funk Barriers Scale, Medical Outcomes Study Quality of Care Scale, and Global Satisfaction Scale), interviews, and reflective journals was used to evaluate the impact of the mobile technologies on nurses' information needs, perceived quality of care, and job satisfaction.
Findings:
Among the PDA users, there was a significant (P < .05) improvement in research awareness/values and in perceived quality of care and job satisfaction and a reduction in perceived organizational and technological barriers to research utilization. Nurses most frequently consulted drug and medical reference information, Google, and NursingPLUS.
Discussion:
Mobile information technologies have the potential to improve research utilization, quality of care, and job satisfaction, but they need to be portable and integrate efficiently into nurses' clinical workflow.
Section Description
We are pleased to share the paper presentation abstracts from the Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics, Informatics at the Point of Care: A Barrier or a Bridge?, held at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, July 22 to 25, 2009. The program, chaired by Dr Judy Ozbolt, was a great success. Each of the following abstracts was selected for presentation by a peer-review committee.