Home care nurses' experiences with using electronic messaging in their communication with general practitioners

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Informatics
• Nursing Practice
• Primary Care Communication

Background:

• Home care nurses require effective collaboration with general practitioners for homebound patients.
• Dispersed organization and separate structures often hinder communication and collaboration.
• Information and communication technology is anticipated to enhance patient safety and care quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore home care nurses' experiences with electronic messaging (e-messaging).
• To assess the influence of e-messaging on communication dynamics between home care nurses and general practitioners.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving group comparisons.
• Data collected via mailed questionnaires from 425 nurses using e-messaging and 364 in a comparison group.
• Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and multilevel analysis.

Main Results:

• Nurses using e-messaging reported more established communication procedures with general practitioners.
• E-messaging implementation did not improve communication timeliness but led to more frequent contacts.
• A decrease in fax usage was noted in the e-messaging group compared to the control.

Conclusions:

• Home care nurses and general practitioners continued to utilize non-electronic communication methods alongside e-messaging.
• E-messaging served as a complementary tool, transforming but not replacing existing communication methods.
• Findings offer insights for planning and implementing new health information technology in primary care.