The Use of Health Information Technology by Nurses in Healthcare

Background: Health Information Technology (HIT) has the potential for improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare and nurses are the largest group of HIT users. Objectives: Therefore, the present study mainly aimed to investigate the use of HIT by nurses in healthcare. Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study was conducted in four educational and treatment centers of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2019. A researcher-made questionnaire was used for data collection, the validity and reliability of which were confirmed by experts’ approval and Cronbach’s test (0.84). Eventually, the data were analyzed by R and Rstudio statistical Software, and Chisquare test was used to examine the relationship between the variables. Results: The most commonly used HITs among nurses were the hospital information system (100%), picture archiving and communication system (83.2%), as well as tele-nursing (76%) and mobile-health (64.9%). However, none of the nurses used a radio frequency identification system (0%) in nursing care. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that although the application of HITs presents potential benefits in improving healthcare quality, their features are not used completely in nursing care.