INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE USE OF NURSING INFORMATICS AMONG NURSES IN SELECTED HOSPITALS IN IMO STATE

Beatrice Amaka Ogu, C.C.N. Vincent, Nkiru Okoroafor, Emmanuel Ifeanyi Obeagu*, Adanma Nwagwu Solomon, Anthonia Emesowum, Josephine Egbuchelem and Clementina Ezenwuba

ABSTRACT

This study examined the factors affecting the use of nursing informatics among nurses in selected hospitals in Imo State. The study was carried out using a descriptive survey research design, having five research questions and four corresponding hypotheses. The population of the study comprised 1415 nurses from the selected hospitals and a sample size of 343 nurses were chosen from the population. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire sectioned in 6 parts to elicit information on demographic variables, extent of nursing informatics usage, individual, institutional, environmental and technological factors affecting use of nursing informatics among nurses. The reliability of the instrument was tested using test retest and calculated with Pearson R statistics which yielded coefficient of 0.82.The research questions were answered using mean scores and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using multiple linear regression at 0.05 level of significance. Majority of the nurses agree to the institutional factors affecting use of nursing informatics (mean=3.14, p<0.05) and there is a significant relationship between demographic variables and responses of the nurses on institutional factors affecting use of nursing informatics (p<.05) It is concluded that by embracing nursing informatics, hospitals and various healthcare organisations can deliver more efficient and higher quality care. It is recommended among others that Nurses should use the informatics facilities made available to them so as to prevent errors and take medication orders.

Keywords: Nursing informatics, institutional factors, Nurses, nursing education, healthcare.