The attitudes of Maltese nurses towards the use of computers in clinical practice

Abstract

The few studies regarding nurses' attitudes towards the use of computers that have been undertaken were all carried out abroad, so this study is intended to identify the attitudes that are prevalent in Malta and give scope for further research in this field of Nursing. A questionnaire was devised to identify the attitudes of nurses towards the use of computers in clinical practice, to assess their familiarity with computers and to determine whether gender, work area and years of nursing experience influence nurses' attitudes. A pilot study was carried out using a sample of 3 State Registered Nurses, 10.7% of the total study population (28 nurses). The questionnaire was seen to be reasonably valid and reliable and required only minimal amendments before being used in the main study. The results obtained demonstrated very positive attitudes towards computers prevailing among nurses, and gender, work area and years of nursing experience were found to affect these attitudes. The author finally recommends computer training or awareness courses for staff, nursing and other, who may later be involved in using computers and several other recommendations that one must consider before introducing a computer system into the local hospital setting.