Are Nurses Who Are Digital Immigrants Resistant to Technology Use for Deivery of Care?

Purpose:

Medicare and Medicaid were the driving force behind implementing information technology in healthcare in the 1960s.  Healthcare entities focused on advancing the implementation of technology in the 1970s while personal computers and networking became a realization in the 1980s.  Digital Immigrants resistance to technology is a growing concern, increasingly apparent since the 1990s.  A digital immigrant is a person born before overall endorsement of digital technology.  A wide range of information technology systems were implemented with relatively no standardization in the education or training of this generation of nurses.  Several technology-based documentation systems are used across the nation with little education being provided on correct implementation.  In a recent survey investigating the impact of healthcare information technology on nursing practice, (Piscotty, Kalisch, & Gracey-Thomas, 2015) found the use of HIT in nursing practice resulted negatively on patient care of feeding, bathing, ambulation, turning and hygiene.  Further, (Piscotty et al., 2015) reported an increase in pressure ulcer development and pneumonia in patients increased because of missed nursing care delayed by time taken using HIT.  The lack of standardized guidelines and education for nurses in direct patient care may lead to an increase in preventable patient injuries and needs further investigation.

Current literature suggests the lack of education of physicians and nurses on information technology, incorrect implementation of programs on informtaion technology and failure of institutions to implement clinical practice guidelines based on new evidence, is complicating and decreasing nursing patient care.  The rising cost of healthcare, the need for evidence based research and implementation of the evidence into practice leads to the research questions "Do nurses or digital immigrants with resistance to technology deliver standards of practice care?"  The purpose of this pilot project is to determine if the implementation of standards of practice guidelines, education on using information technology, and information technology systems designed around workflow of nurses improve patient care and decrease digital immigrant's resistance to technology.

Methods:

A descriptive survey design will be used in this study.  Data collected from the MISSCARE Nursing Survey, a two part quantitative and qualitative survey, will be analyzed using SPSS version 22.

Results:

The results of this pilot study are in progress.

Conclusion:

It is anticipated that the implementation of guidelines and newly designed information technology systems will reduce digital immigrant's resistance to technology.