Influence of Technology on Nursing Education - Thesis Example

Influence of Technology on Nursing Education Globalization and the technological advancement bring drastic changes to the society. As a result of it, the education system is also changing its structure. “The advent of technology has had a profound influence on nursing education.” (Chaffin & Maddux, 2004, para.1). The online education or e-learning involves the employment of various strategies over information technology platforms so as to deliver certain educational materials to the students. The educator is challenged by these adaptations essential when changing from class room teaching to online instruction. E-learning has many advantages. In this context, the researchers has put forwarded an effective step to develop an understanding of nurse’s perception about the barriers for online education. The wide scope of this field is rejected, mostly by the nursing staffs. This is because of various reasons such as the lack of necessary computer skills, inefficient training in the prevailing education system, lack of motivation and orientation etc. The willingness of the staffs is also accountable for the rejection. The attitude of nurses with regard to the concept of online education is different from the nursing students and the employed nursing staffs. The study is done based on the hypothesis that the nursing students have a positive attitude towards the online education. Among the hospital employed nurses lack of staff confidence in using technology inhibit their use of online education. Today the hospitals are providing quality healthcare with advanced technologies. The need of continuing education helps to improve the quality of service. These circumstances laid the platform for the nontraditional academic system of learning. These educational programs and training sessions are important to update the medication, skill and techniques of the nurses. The virtual hospitals are the other out breaking area in the IT field. The simulation labs are very much efficient in e- learning. Various barriers such as lack of access to computers and the internet, lack of orientation and motivation towards the use of computer technologies, the multigenerational gap among the employers etc., influence the perception of the nurses towards applying the technology to further advance their education prospects. The TIGER is the Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform which initiative to enable practicing nurses and the nursing students to fully update in the emerging Digital Electronic era in healthcare. The Propaganda of TIGER focus on “reform the nursing curriculum through integration of IT, information literacy, and informatics and the infusion of technologies for learning.” (Key actions: Education, 2007, para.5). Nursing education, both at the hospital and college level will need to share in the task of preparation and skill acquisition for the incoming nursing staff. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between nursing students and hospitals. Employed nurses of various generations and their view and acceptance to use online education are also highlighted. It tries to understand and analyze the perception of nursing students and the nursing staffs in using the advanced technologies such as the computer and the internet. In order to assess the perception of nurses for online education, the researcher used descriptive research design. A cross-sectional survey design was used to conduct the study. The data collected for this study was quantitative in nature. Descriptive statistics represents data in quantitative terms that could be assessed on the basis of statistically significant relationships using the statistical methods such as tendency, mean, mode and medium. Descriptive design describes events and it is assessed in an organized and tabulated manner. This method is very effective in this study since the educational research cannot be done in an experimental laboratory. The sample populations of the study were nurses employed in the hospitals and the nursing students who were required to use computer technology, without considering any age limit. The registered nurses were recruited for the study from Indiana Wesleyan University and Methodist Hospitals. Two months were taken for the data collection beginning in January 2010 and ending in February 2010. The questionnaire used in this study is “ The Staggers Nursing Computer Experience Questionnaire (SNCEQ)” developed and revised by Nancy Staggers in 1998 to validate nurse’s computer competency and it consisted of four-point Likert-type items (0 = none; 4 = extensive). The data analysis aims at analyzing the data provided by the respondents, considering the questionnaire and the survey. In this study in which 172 respondents responded properly to the questionnaire has clearly categorized the respondents on the basis of age, experience, gender and race or ethnicity. Among them there are 158 females and 14 males. The respondents belong to various races such as Asian (7%), African American (31%), Caucasian (48%) and other (2%). There are 44 respondents who have more than twenty years of experience while 31 respondents have 15 to 20 years of experience. 29 nurses belong to the category of 10 to 15 years of experience and 26 respondents are of 6 to 10 years of experience. 20 nurses have experience of two to five years and 12 registered nurses have one to two years of experience. There are only 10 nurses who are less than one year of experience. So also there are 12 Asians 54 African Americans, 82 Caucasians and 3 others. 2.1. The Significance of the Problem: In the current scenario, the healthcare institutions expect nursing graduates who can easily adapt and utilize the advanced technologies in their nursing profession. Perception in using IT varies from the employed nursing staffs and the nursing students. The research study was based on two hypothesize. The first one was that nursing students have a positive attitude towards online education. The second hypothesis states that, due to the huge digital divide and higher computer illiteracy rating that exists among the mature nurse; it is possible that they could have a negative attitude towards on-line education. The objective of the research study was to examine the difference of perception among the hospital employed nursing staffs of various generation and the nursing students. The study also aims at understanding the view and acceptance to use the online education. Here, two research question that are formed to address this issues are 1. Among nursing students, what is the attitude towards online education? 2. Among hospital employed nurses, does a lack of staff confidence in using technology inhibit the use of on-line continuing education? Nursing education has experienced tremendous and dramatic changes as information technology has been incorporated into all aspects of teaching, learning and healthcare in the past 10 years. On line learning provide the platform for the teachers and the students to share, communicate, collaborate and interact at any times irrespective of time and space. The major session (51%) of the sample population belongs to the Baby boomer generation (Tab 1). The study shoes that there is no statistically significant correlation between the age of the participant and the self assessed usage of computers both in work and in home (tab7&8). Table 9 and 10 shows that, there is no statistically significant correlation between age of the participant and the self assessed knowledge regarding the use of computers. The experience of the nurse is inversely proportional to the age (Tab 5&6). The study sample shows more women than the men. Hence, the study cannot be considered as the male and female experience within the nursing profession. The majority of the respondents have a computer experience rating at third level of experience. It is slightly less than average level of experience. The highest percentage of it is in employers who belong to the Generation X Category or age group. Tab (13).There is no statistical correlation between the gender and the self-assessed degree of computer usage either at work or at home (Tab13 &14). Around 121 of the total respondents have little barriers to use computers. They are using computers frequently. Out of the total population, 61 fear the lose of data from computer. This is one of the major reasons for the negative perception on the use of IT. The study further shows that, the negative attitude towards the use of the computer technology is based on various issues such as non exposure to computers, lack of typing skills, fear or apprehension in handling computers, language inadequacy , and so on. The misconceptions and the negative attitude towards the online education are subjective to the nurse’s inadequacy and not based on the online education programs as such. In addressing to the research question we can brought out some important findings of the study. The first hypothesis is proved correct in the research study. The nursing students have a positive attitude towards the online education. There are several reasons behind this positive attitude. Staff competency and technological development in the hospital setting is an important factor in advanced quality healthcare. The need for continuing education, maintenance of competencies and job certification requirements, has led the staff nurse to use a non-traditional academic format. The nursing professions also include teaching the Patients, the family and to the Co-workers; that forms the essential part of the nursing profession. These educational programs and training sessions are important to update the medication, skill and techniques of the nurses “E-learning allows organizations to offer cost-effective training to a local, national or global community. E-learning allows individuals to participate in learning flexibly, at times and from places of their choosing.” (Why e- learning? 2004, para.5). The pre-dispositions and prejudices towards technology is a factor in determining the attitudes towards the online education. The current study states that the nursing students have a positive attitude towards the online education. Specifically, the studies have also stated that the nursing programs are both accepting and encouraged the use of online learning. The nursing students are more exposed to the computer technologies. This study also supports the findings of earlier studies. We can find out the evidences from the Review of Literature. Teaching the Patients, the family and to the co-workers are essential parts of the nursing profession. Compared to the employed staffs, the nursing students have positive attitude towards the nursing education. Most of the employed staffs are from older generation and they are very new to the emerging technologies. The lack of awareness, time and access to the internet acts as the major barriers for online education and the positive attitude towards it. The fear of reliability about data storage also acts as a major barrier of using the online education. Age is not an important character in determine the computer work efficiency of nurses. The confidence level is very low in using the computer. This also acts as a barrier to the online education in nursing. 2 Implications: Information technology has become an important part of the technology. The medical systems use the advanced technologies for the efficient and productive healthcare. The evidence based healthcare systems are now relying completely on information technology. The information has changed in its structure from book formatting to the e-formatting. The nursing staffs are very new to the technological advancement. The number of people using healthcare systems has increased. As a result of it, the treatment of patient is using the use of mechanical resources such as computers and the internets in the healthcare system. The manual access to the advanced healthcare becomes very costly. “The e learning provide the nurses the following service The opportunity to test their knowledge; The opportunity to receive feedback upon their understanding; The opportunity to ask questions of experts; The opportunity to share and develop their understanding with other learners; The opportunity to engage in rich discussion and collaboration with their peers.” (Why e- learning? 2004, para.4). The majority populations of the sample have completed their nursing profession before the 1080’s. Hence, they will be less oriented towards the importance of E learning. The lack of awareness towards the advanced technologies; act as a barrier to the positive attitudes of e-learning. This should be tackled by boosting up with confidence, motivation and effective orientation. Less access to the internet and lack of time are the second major barrier in having the positive attitude towards e-learning. The employed staffs must be provided a free access to the internet and other computer technologies. The lack of confidence in using the computer is also a barrier. Recently many universities have started to provide input sessions in the IT field. The healthcare institution must also take initiative steps to start input session like this. The theoretical and practical inputs will help the employed staffs to use the available technological advancements effectively. There is a statistically significant correlation which is noted between the gender of the participant and their self assessed degree of experience relating to the knowledge regarding and use of computers. “Computers can perform a wide range of activities that save time and help Nurses provide quality nursing care.” (Kochuthresiamma, 2002, para.2). Computer can be useful for nursing documentation, admission, discharge and transfer, prognosis, diagnosis etc. 3.Recommendations & Suggestion: The Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER, 2007) has worked diligently to ensure that all nurses are properly educated in nursing informatics. In the reality, the best opportunity to do the higher education is with the help of the internet source of learning. But, many barriers play as the trembling block in accessing the opportunity. The progress in training the nursing staff is very low when it is compared with the progress in the advancement of the technologies. The research studies have done with very minimum number of study population. The generalization is very difficult in these situations. It can be done only by the help of the literature review. Further studies of the research problem are essential to the through study of the subject. The further study should be with wider population in order to gain a holistic and useful study. The study has less number of male respondents. Hence, the gender based assessment is not possible at all. The SNCEQ questionnaire used in this research is an older version. The updated version of the questionnaire is essential for the further study. Further study in this subject is essential because the researcher has used quantitative method for addressing the research questions. The attitude is more subjective rather that objective. Hence, the qualitative method such as interviews and case studies will be much more effective in addressing these issues in E-learning in nursing field. “Nursing curricula needs to be reengineered to incorporate the Internet as a valuable patient education tool in order to prepare both nursing students and nurse practitioners for the health care demands of the twenty first century.” (O’Neil et al, 2009, p.11). The education system is to be always updated because new area of research studies has been bringing the knowledge updated. Therefore the knowledge in the medical field is to be updated. The updated knowledge is easily accessible through the internet media cost effectively. The application of the updated knowledge in the nursing field will raise the standard and quality of health which is offered in the healthcare institution. Reference List Chaffin, A.J. & Maddux C.D. (2004). Internet teaching methods for use in baccalaureate nursing education. Pub Med.gov. Retrieved May 28, 2010, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15520582 Key actions: Education. (2007). The TIGER initiative. Retrieved May 28, 2010, from http://www.tigersummit.com/Action_Plan.html Kochuthresiamma, T., (2002). Health care industry: Computers in nursing. BNET. Retrieved May 28, 2010, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4036/is_200208/ai_n9120455/ O’Neil, C.A. et al., (2009). Developing online learning environments in nursing education: Introduction to teaching and learning technology. Springer, p.11. Retrieved May 28, 2010, from http://www.springerpub.com/samples/9780826169020_chapter.pdf Why e- learning? (2004). Nurse Learning. Retrieved May 28, 2010, from http://www.nurselearning.org/index.asp?PT=2&PId=23 Read More