Student Perceptions and Acceptance of Mobile Technology in an Undergraduate Nursing Program

COVID 19-transformed nursing education and communication competency: Testing COMFORT educational resources

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a disruption to nurse education for both nursing faculty and students as all non-clinical nurse education courses worldwide moved to distance or online learning. The sudden shift to online education meant the loss of traditional activities for students to learn communication skills creating a critical demand for open educational resources for students and nursing faculty. Tools to support nursing faculty development for teaching communication are nearly non-existent and pedagogical content knowledge is needed.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to test two COMFORT COVID-19 Communication Modules (PPE and Video/Phone) for undergraduate nursing students and evaluate student communication competency post-intervention.

DESIGN

This pre-post study includes qualitative and quantitative data collected to evaluate student communication competency post-intervention.

SETTINGS

Undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students at four university campuses in the Pacific and MidSouth regions of the United States.

PARTICIPANTS

BSN nursing students (n = 197) predominantly in the third year of study (n = 138, 70%).

METHODS

Students completed online modules as part of a nursing course. Faculty provided information and a link to access online learning modules. A pre-post assessment was completed for each module.

RESULTS

Significant statistical differences were found across variables of communication attitude, knowledge, and skill across both modules.

CONCLUSIONS

As nursing education in the United States shifts to competency-based education which emphasizes skill development across the BSN program, it is imperative to establish communication learning objectives that are measurable and ensure communication theory and evidence-based practice is part of curriculum content.

Barriers and facilitators of using mobile devices as an educational tool by nursing students: a qualitative research

Background

Although the use of mobile devices can facilitate the learning process, there may be barriers to using them for learning purposes. This study aimed to identify and investigate the barriers and facilitators of using mobile devices as an educational device from the perspective of nursing students.

Methods

This qualitative descriptive study was conducted in 2020 on undergraduate nursing students of the Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. A total of 22 undergraduate nursing students were selected by purposive sampling with maximum variability. Inclusion criteria were Undergraduate nursing education, having mobile devices, and willingness to participate in research. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews for 45–75 min in the proposed environment of students until the data were saturated. Data analysis was performed manually using the framework analysis method with the steps: familiarization, identifying a thematic framework, indexing, Charting and Synthesis, Mapping, and Interpretation. Trustworthiness was determined by methods of Credibility, Dependability, Conformability, and Transferability.

Results

The majority of participants (45.45%) were 21 years old, 63.63% were women, and 36.36% studied in the 8th semester. Findings from the analysis of interviews showed that barriers to the use of mobile devices were classified into 4 main categories (barriers related to mobile devices, barriers related to Internet access, barriers related to information literacy, cultural-environmental barriers) and 15 subcategories, and facilitating the use of mobile devices was divided into 2 main categories (easy to use mobile devices and easy access to information) and 6 subcategories.

Conclusion

The results of this study help educational managers and curriculum planners to adapt to technological change, to focus on the many benefits of mobile devices as an educational tool, and to plan to overcome barriers to mobile device use, and use mobile devices to teach theoretical topics and clinical nursing skills effectively.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-021-00750-9.

Nursing students' attitudes toward mobile learning: An integrative review

Purpose

This study aimed to explore whether the attitudes of nursing students toward the use of mobile learning are positive or negative and to identify the factors influencing their attitudes by reviewing the literature.

Methods

Electronic search of six databases, including PubMed, the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, ProQuest, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library, was conducted, and relevant references within articles were manually searched. Retrieval time was from inception to October 21, 2020. The literature review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines and the integrative review method. The Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used for quality assessment.

Results

A total of 316 articles were identified, and 18 English-language studies were finally included by reviewing titles, abstracts, and full text. Six quantitative, five qualitative, and seven mixed-method articles related to nursing students’ attitudes toward the use of mobile learning were identified. The results showed that most nursing students had positive attitudes toward mobile learning. Although students expressed strong intentions for mobile learning, the actual usage rate in practical settings was low. Several advantageous factors included usefulness, convenience, and ease of use, whereas disadvantageous factors included hardware facility, updated content, and software stability.

Conclusion

Most nursing students have positive attitudes and willingness to mobile learning, but the actual use rate remains low. Advantageous and disadvantageous factors coexist. Further studies are needed to assess how mobile learning improves nursing students’ clinical knowledge and improves patient care.

Using Mobile Technologies Among Undergraduate Nursing Students for Academic Purposes in Tertiary Education: A Quantitative Survey

Mobile devices are increasingly part of daily life, with the benefits of using the technology in nursing education widely recognized. This study explored the use of mobile devices among undergraduate nursing students for academic purposes in South Africa, using a quantitative survey. The majority of participants owned smartphones (87.6%), followed by laptops (76%) and tablets (47.1%). Mobile devices were used to perform academic tasks and communicate and collaborate with peers and teachers, as well as search and access electronic resources. Few of the first year nursing students owned laptops and tablets and used them less frequently than the students from other levels of the study. Equipping nursing students with mobile devices, such as laptops and tablets, particularly first year students, and ensuring that they have adequate skills to use them, is essential to training future nurses who are expected to work in a technology-mediated health environment.

International Nursing: Use of a Commercially Available Smartphone Application to Solve Information Needs of Orthopedic Scrub Nurses

The purpose of this article is to describe the use of a commercially available smartphone application to solve information needs of scrub nurses in orthopedic surgery. A semistructured, focus group interview was conducted with orthopedic scrub nurses. These nurses had solved their information needs about orthopedic surgery by using a commercially available smartphone application. Because of smartphone technology's convenience, accessibility, mobility, ease of use, and use at no charge, it is worth considering in nursing practice, education, and research.

Exploring Care Providers' Perceptions and Current Use of Telehealth Technology at Work, in Daily Life, and in Education: Qualitative and Quantitative Study

BACKGROUND

A telehealth technology education curriculum designed to integrate information technology and telecommunication well has great potential to prepare care providers for health care delivery across space, time, and social and cultural barriers. It is important to assess the readiness level of care providers to use and maximize the benefits of telehealth technology in the health care delivery process. Therefore, this study explored care providers' existing experience using technology in various use contexts and compared their familiarity with telehealth technology's relevant features.

OBJECTIVE

This study's objective was to explore care providers' familiarity with using technology in different settings and their perceptions of telehealth-driven care performance to lay a foundation for the design of an effective telehealth education program.

METHODS

The study used quantitative and qualitative analyses. The online survey included four items that measured care providers' perceptions of care performance when using telehealth technology. Advanced practice registered nurse students rated each item on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 7 ("strongly agree"). They also responded to three open-ended questions about what kinds of health information technology they use at work, after work, and in their current educational program.

RESULTS

A total of 109 advanced practice registered nurse students responded to the online survey and open-ended questionnaire. Most indicated that using telehealth technology enhances care performance (mean 5.67, median 6.0, SD 1.36), helps make their care tasks more effective (mean 5.73, median 6.0, SD 1.30), improves the quality of performing care tasks (mean 5.71, median 6.0, SD 1.30), and decreases error in communicating and sharing information with others (mean 5.35, median 6.0, SD 1.53). In addition, our qualitative analyses revealed that the students used the electronic health records technology primarily at work, combined with clinical decision support tools for medication and treatment management. Outside work, they primarily used video-text communication tools and were exposed to some telehealth technology in their education setting. Further, they believe that use of nonhealth technology helps them use health information technology to access health information, confirm their diagnoses, and ensure patient safety.

CONCLUSIONS

This research highlights the importance of identifying care providers' existing experience of using technology to better design a telehealth technology education program. By focusing explicitly on the characteristics of care providers' existing technology use in work, nonwork, and educational settings, we found a potential consistency between practice and education programs in care providers' requirements for technology use, as well as areas of focus to complement their frequent use of nonhealth technologies that resemble telehealth technology. Health policymakers and practitioners need to provide compatible telehealth education programs tailored to the level of care providers' technological familiarity in both their work and nonwork environments.