Abstract:
Byline: Hui-Mei Hsu (1,2), Ying-Hui Hou (3), I-Chiu Chang (1),
David C. Yen (4)
Keywords:
Nurses; Computer literacy; Nursing informatics
Healthcare is experiencing a major transformation in its
information technology base. Hospitals are adopting information technology
(IT) to reduce costs and increase competitiveness. IT applications in
healthcare are trending towards electronic patient records and even health
records. Therefore, practices in nursing are also affected by IT. Many
researchers have studied what computer literacy a nurse should possess, but
have focused less on factors that actually impact computer literacy. The
purposes of this study are to examine current computer literacy levels of
nurses, and to indicate what variables influence their computer literacy.
Taiwan and South Korea both implemented a national health insurance system,
and used state-of-the art IT to provide higher volume and better quality of
services. The data were collected from two case hospitals which are located
in Taiwan and South Korea, respectively. By using a structured questionnaire,
a total of 203 nurses responded 104 from Taiwan and 99 from South Korea. The
results revealed that personal innovativeness in IT, computer education, and
age are significant factors that affected computer literacy levels. These
factors serve as reference for administrators and executives in hospitals, or
nursing educators seeking the data necessary to make decisions on curriculum.
Author Affiliation:
(1) Department of Information Management, National Chung Cheng
University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan, Republic of China
(2) Department of Healthcare Service Management, Mei-Ho Institute
of Technology, Ping-Tung, Taiwan, Republic of China
(3) Graduate Institute of Health Care Organization Administration,
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Republic of China
(4) Department of DSC & MIS, Miami University, Oxford, OH,
45056, USA
Article History:
Registration Date: 10/05/2008
Received Date: 02/03/2008
Accepted Date: 09/05/2008
Online Date: 05/06/2008
source: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA233077413&v=2.1&u=phspuqc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=
Today, computers, along with Internet technology are being introduced
into hospitals to enhance the performance of the medical facilities that
are dispensed. Nurses as a healthcare provider should be computer literate. Computer Literate is defined as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently. The article above, shows the different factors that affects the nurses of South Korea and Taiwan are: personal innovativeness in IT, computer education, and
age. This study can help the hospital administrators and clinical instructors to improve the skills and educate their nurses more on how to technology.