Coping with different roles in intensive care nursing: design implications for digital support

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Healthcare Technology

Background:

• Intensive care nurses perform complex roles: practitioner, scholar, and managing human responses.
• Digital support tools are increasingly vital in intensive care settings.
• Existing digital tools may not adequately address the multifaceted needs of intensive care nurses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify design implications for digital support systems tailored to intensive care nurses.
• To enhance support for nurses in their practitioner, scholar, and human response roles.
• To inform the development of role-based digital interventions.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative interviews with 17 intensive care nurses across six Dutch hospitals.
• Utilized a newly developed digital prototype with functions for practitioner, scholar, and human roles.
• Analyzed nurse feedback on perceived added value, alternative uses, and negative impacts of digital functions.

Main Results:

• 23 distinct topics emerged from nurse feedback.
• Nine topics highlighted the added value of digital functions.
• Nine topics suggested alternative uses, and five addressed negative impacts.
• 23 design implications for role-based digital support were derived.

Conclusions:

• Digital support systems can be designed to effectively assist intensive care nurses in their diverse roles.
• User feedback is crucial for optimizing the design and utility of healthcare technologies.
• Future digital tools should consider the practitioner, scholar, and human dimensions of nursing work.