Factors affecting the use of nursing information systems in Taiwan

This paper reports a study to test a proposed model of factors (demographic variables, computer experience and perceived technology characteristics) influencing the efficient use of a computerized nursing care planning system by hospital clinical nurses.

Although nursing information systems have been used in health care institutions, little research has explored the efficiency of computer use in nurses' daily practice.

A secondary data analysis was applied to focus on clinical nurses' daily computer use. The original data were collected from a medical centre in Taiwan to establish the reliability and validity of a scale to evaluate computerized nursing care plan systems.

Younger nurses with more education, less computer knowledge and less usage pressure, and who perceived that they had less usage benefit, more education training and usability regarding system use, spent less time on the computerized nursing care plan.

The results can be used for further organization of education programmes and as a reference for training strategies. Further examination and analysis of item content are suggested.