Computerized hospitals: an attraction or deterrent to recruitment in nursing?

This article describes a survey of 202 nursing recruits at an 850 bed hospital newly computerized with an Integrated Hospital Information System (IHIS). The nurses answered questions concerning their demographic characteristics, their experience with computers, their attitudes to computers and whether the fact that the hospital was computerized affected their decision to apply for employment. Results of this study suggest that the nurses' decision to apply to this setting for employment did not depend upon the factor of computerization. The majority of recruits held positive attitudes towards computers and it appeared that nurse recruits might be part of an ever increasing computer-literate population. Those having less experience with computers indicated greater anxiety. Implications for recruitment strategies and education are that while no major deterrents may exist for recruitment, new nurses with no computer experience require special attention because they may have higher levels of anxiety about computers. In orientation they may need clarification of what computers can be expected to do in a nursing environment so that they do not form unrealistic expectations. They may need to be informed as to whether a hospital is using a more general Hospital Information System which serves the needs of all departments, or a Nursing Information System which is more closely directed to the nurses' own daily work, since it is the latter which will most affect their degree of contact with computers.