Survey and workshop initiative on community nurses' knowledge of the Internet

Information technology in the nursing profession has been in existence for years, but only now with the growing presence of the Internet is it viewed as a possible platform to help meet the need for nurses' continuing educational development. For this to happen, it is important to know qualified nurses' experience with the Internet. In the United Kingdom, there is little understanding of whether community nurses have experience in using the Internet and if they do, how they use it. This article reports the findings of a survey questionnaire, taken in 1998, that was designed to target a random sample of 100 community nurses in Aberdeen, Scotland, to gauge awareness and attitudes toward the use of electronic sources of information for continuing education purposes. The response rate for the questionnaire was 83% (n = 83). A series of workshops was also undertaken, exploring the potential of the Internet and its access. A total of 52 people attended the workshops. One of the main aims of the workshops was to demystify the image of the computer, breaking down barriers for those with little or no experience in this field. The major findings of the survey and workshops indicate that although many respondents were interested in the potential benefits of the Internet to access information, there was little use made of and limited access to computer equipment.