The impact of a PDA-assisted documentation tutorial on student nurses' attitudes

The purpose of this pretest-posttest study was to determine the effect of a PDA-assisted documentation tutorial on fourth-year student nurses' (n=56) attitudes toward computerized documentation, anticipation to exercise of professional judgment when documenting, and satisfaction with computer technology for documentation. Paired t test showed significant increases in anticipation to use professional nursing judgment and satisfaction with the PDA for documentation. Satisfaction with the PDA for documentation was positively and significantly related to attitudes toward computerized documentation (r=.46, P<.01), and satisfaction with a PDA learning tutorial (r=.46, P<.01). Attitudes toward computerized documentation, length of nursing experience, and satisfaction with the PDA learning tutorial predicted satisfaction with the PDA for documentation. Seventy percent of 213 comments about the value of the PDA were favorable. These findings indicate that the PDA may be a valuable documentation tool for teaching professional nursing judgment and documentation skills to undergraduate nursing students.