Development and testing of a survey instrument to measure benefits of a nursing information system

Information systems (IS) benefits for nurses are outcomes related to the tangible products or improvements that nurses realize from using IS. This study examined the development and psychometric testing of a measure of nurses' benefits from IS. A random sample of 570 nurses working in hospitals, providing direct patient care, and using IS completed the study questionnaire. The internal consistency reliability of the results was .97. Exploratory factor analysis, using principal components extraction and varimax rotation, revealed items loaded on four factors (saving time and efficiency, quality of care, charting, and professional practice) that were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Continued refinement of the instrument is needed with more diverse samples of nurses.