A Tool to Measure Nurses' Perceptions of Electronic Documentation: Exploratory Factor Analysis

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Healthcare Technology
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are prevalent in US hospitals, significantly altering staff workflows and time management.
• The impact of EHR adoption on healthcare professionals necessitates understanding user perceptions.
• Adapting existing tools is crucial for evaluating new health information systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt an existing survey instrument for measuring nurses' perceptions of a newly implemented Electronic Health Record system.
• To assess the psychometric properties of the adapted survey.
• To provide a reliable tool for evaluating nurse experiences with EHRs.

Main Methods:

• An 11-item survey was administered to 153 registered nurses at a regional hospital.
• Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to determine the underlying structure of the survey data.
• Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess the internal consistency of the survey subscales.

Main Results:

• Exploratory Factor Analysis identified a robust 3-factor model for the survey.
• The adapted survey demonstrated high internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha values exceeding .80 for all subscales.
• The instrument proved to be psychometrically sound and thematically relevant to nurses' EHR experiences.

Conclusions:

• The iterative adaptation process yielded a reliable and valid instrument for measuring nurses' perceptions of EHRs.
• The developed survey is suitable for assessing user experience with newly adopted EHR systems.
• Further psychometric validation and testing in diverse healthcare settings are recommended for the adapted instrument.