Monday October 1st,
3:30 – 5:30 pm

Nurses are a major constituent of healthcare teams and their actions significantly impact patient outcomes. They need timely access to patient and practice information for quality patient care. The study evaluated the usability of a point-of-care decision support prototype system for linking best practice guidelines to HOBIC outcomes measurement. A quasi-experimental field study was used to evaluate the usability of the prototype system. The setting was three acute care hospitals and three home care agencies. The sample consisted of 191 nurses and 313 patients. Nurses on the intervention units were trained to use Personal Digital Assistants to collect and record patient outcomes information through a wireless network and access best practice guidelines to support evidence-based decision-making. Questionnaire data were collected on the quality of communication and usability of the prototype system.

The majority of participants were registered staff nurses (90%), female (92%), working full-time hours (80%). On a scale of 1 (low) to 9 (high), the highest rated items were adequacy of power to enter information (7.8), image of characters on screen (7.7), size of screen (7.7), and consistency of messages (7.7). The lowest rated items were flexibility of data entry (6.1) and satisfaction with data entry experience (5.9). There was a significant difference in the quality and timeliness of communication between experimental and control acute care units at post-test. No differences in evidence-based practice were found. The prototype system has the potential to improve nurses’ collection and utilization of outcomes information.

Diane Doran, RN, PhD, FCAHS, Professor, Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, and a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Her research has been recognized by the Premiers Research Excellence Award, Canadian Association of University Schools of Nursing Award of Excellence, and the Dorothy Pringle Research Excellence Award, Sigma Theta Tau International, Lambda Pi Chapter. Her recent research focuses on health care teams, the evaluation of methods for improving the quality of nursing practice, and the design and measurement of nursing sensitive patient outcomes. She is currently engaged in an innovative investigation into the use of handheld technology to improve nurses’ collection, utilization, and communication of health information at the point-of-care.