The impact of Internet access on nursing practice

Currently, according to Richards (2001), nurses are unsophisticated in informatics potential. The majority of practicing nurses are limited in their exposure to and competence with computer technology. Richards stated. "Such a deficiency is juxtaposed against the fact that young nurses entering the profession have grown up surrounded by technology, assimilating it as easily as the air they breathe" (p. 6). The new generation of nurses can greatly influence the art and science of nursing during this massive communications revolution. These "Net nurses" will view technology in the same light as contemporary nurses do their stethoscopes, creating a nursing culture that embraces technology and advances the profession in ways that Florence Nightingale could never have imagined.