INFORMATICS AND HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY COMPETENCY AMONG NURSES IN A LOW-RESOURCED COUNTRY: A MIXED-METHODS RESEARCH

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Healthcare Technology
• Global Health

Background:

• Information and communication technology (ICT) integration in healthcare can improve access, decision-making, and patient outcomes, particularly in low-resource settings.
• Nurses' competency in informatics and healthcare technology is crucial for effective ICT adoption.
• The Kyrgyz Republic faces unique challenges in implementing healthcare technology due to resource limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess nurses' perceptions of informatics and healthcare technology competency in the Kyrgyz Republic.
• To identify characteristics of nurses related to their technology competency.
• To understand the gap between perceived importance and actual performance of informatics skills among nurses.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory sequential mixed-methods design.
• Data collected through nine focus group interviews (n=54) and a survey (n=292) involving nurses and nursing managers.
• Assessed perceptions of informatics and healthcare technology competency and related issues.

Main Results:

• Five qualitative themes emerged: digital system use, database access, workflow optimization, role redefinition, and adaptation to change.
• Perceived importance of informatics and healthcare technology competency significantly exceeded self-reported performance (means 1.25 vs 1.06, p < .001).
• Importance-performance analysis revealed informatics knowledge as high-importance/high-performance, basic computer skills as high-importance/low-performance, and informatics skills as low-importance/low-performance.

Conclusions:

• Nurses in the Kyrgyz Republic acknowledge the significance of informatics and technology competency, adapting workflows to maintain care.
• A performance gap exists between the perceived importance and actual application of these competencies.
• Context-specific training and infrastructure development are essential to enhance nurses' informatics skills and improve health outcomes in low-resource regions.