The Relationship Between Healthcare Providers' Attitudes Towards The Use Of Computer And Their Informatics Competencies In Hospital Practice

Abstract

1. Introduction
In the current healthcare environment, health information technology is a popular and powerful method for transforming the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care. From last-stage bedside service to the first-stage outpatient clinical service, technology supports and facilitates clinical management. Clinicians and healthcare providers must prepare for the role of providing and conducting safe and effective care in clinical practices. With the development of more and more integrated healthcare information systems, computerizing clinical practice is inevitable. Moreover, since informatics competence provides effective working skills for nurses, it must be evaluated for use with progressive informatics tools to support both the technology and the professional domain of care, as acquiring necessary informatics competencies is highly demanding. Caring activities reach clients directly at the front line, so the implementation of informatics competency should begin with the input and support of providers in direct nursing services.
Methods
In In this section, we will outline the methods used to assess healthcare providers' attitudes towards the use of computers and their informatics competencies in hospital practice., a hospital in Taiwan conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey of nurses in different wards. There was a return of 514 valid questionnaires and an 84.3 percent response rate. Using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and t-tests, researchers examined both healthcare providers' attitudes towards the use of computers and information competencies. First, the surveys showed that the research participants had good attitudes towards the use of computers and moderate informatics competencies. Then, the hospital level, age, and education level were associated with the attitudes towards the use of computers. Further, a nurse's age, hospital attributes, job title, and attitude towards the use of computers were associated with informatics competencies. Consequently, researchers suggested that hospitals could organize a diverse training program that targeted nursing needs to promote the informatics competencies of healthcare providers and help reform their all-round capabilities through internet sharing and collecting suggestions.
Conclusion
Descriptive results showed that healthcare providers respected the use of computers in hospital practice. This result was consistent with past studies showing that physicians used computers to practice medicine more often than non-users believed. Information technology at the point of care would improve the quality of clinical decisions, promote more efficient office visits, and improve response time for laboratory and imaging results. Only 26.7% of healthcare providers surveyed had completed some kind of hospital computer training. This percentage was similar to the usage of clinical information systems in Taiwan. The literature also found that the major factors influencing clinical staff to use the health information system included possessing good computer literacy, developing concern and effect regarding the usability of the system, participating in the decision-making procedure, and proper training.
Studies have reported that healthcare providers with better computer skills have fewer difficulties using computers. Many early practitioners graduated from medical training and behaved as if comfort with technology was something intrinsic to the next generation. Most trainees discriminate themselves from computer-based information system courses, making it extremely difficult to upgrade the computer skills among healthcare providers who were not involved in the systematic courses of the healthcare information system. Better computer competencies lead to a lower sense of discomfort, fear, or confusion about computers and send individuals signals that they are capable of using computers. In conclusion, this result showed that healthcare providers working in hospital practice respected the use of computers, but the industry did not adequately provide hospital computer training, which led to a lower degree of informatics competencies. Insufficient training may convey a sense of concern about computer usage in hospital practice.