Pretest and post-test attitudes of nursing personnel toward a patient care information system

This 3-year study was conducted for the following purposes: 1) to develop and to test an instrument to assess the attitudes of nursing personnel toward a patient care information system; 2) to collect pretest data regarding attitudes and selected demographic variables; and 3) to collect post-test attitude data to evaluate a computer-based training program and the actual transition into the computerized clinical information system. While several studies have been undertaken to understand more about the attitudes of nurses toward computer applications in the hospital setting and the variables that influenced them, no studies were identified that investigated the attitudes of nurses before and after transition into an automated system. A total of 224 nursing personnel participated in the two phases of data collection between 1990 and 1993. Factor analysis supported a 12-item general attitude scale with an alpha reliability value of 0.92. While respondents indicated positive attitudes at the outset, their attitudes became less positive during the actual start-up of the system. Specific attitude items receiving the highest and lowest mean ratings and narrative comments of respondents were used to identify areas requiring additional attention and problem solving.