Attitude of nursing students following the implementation of comprehensive computer-based nursing process in medical surgical internship: a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND: The nursing process is the core and the standard of practice in nursing profession. Nowadays, the use of information technology in the field of nursing processes, education and practice has been emphasized. Since nurse’s attitudes towards clinical information systems are considered as an indicator of the success rate of information systems, and nurse’s attitudes about the nursing process can affect their execution of the process. So the purpose of this study was to evaluate nursing students’ attitudes towards the nursing process software. METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, 160 undergraduate nursing students (terms 4–8) in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences were selected by convenience sampling. To evaluate the effectiveness of nursing process software in this study, Mazlom and Rajabpoor (IJME 14(4):312–322, 2014) a questionnaire consisting of 21 components based on a five-point Likert scale was completed by students after using the software. Data were then analyzed by SPSS 19 software. RESULTS: The mean score of students’ attitude toward nursing process software was high (80.70 ± 5.58). The nursing students’ highest scoring attitudes were respectively related to “Effectiveness of software in prioritizing patient care and problems”, “Completeness of patient’s electronic information compared to handwritten mode” and “Software’s effectiveness in saving your time”. The lowest scoring attitudes towards the software was respectively related to the “feeling of fairness in labor division”, “the effectiveness of the software in determining your workload” and “the feeling of satisfaction in labor division”. There was a statistically significant relationship between gender and age, and student’s attitude toward nursing process software. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results and analysis of nursing student’s attitudes toward nursing process software, the use of such software would be welcomed by students. It seems that changing policies in the educational and clinical substructure of nursing in order to develop, adapt and use the nursing process software is an important responsibility for nursing authorities to consider. Providing educational and clinical technology equipment, periodic evaluation of software by stakeholders and promoting the use of this software, can be fundamental steps in operationalizing the findings of this research.