• To understand some of the reasons why digital technology in healthcare can be challenging for nurses to use in practice
• To learn about the various types of digital technology used by nurses during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic
• To appreciate the factors that affected nurses’ use of digital technology during the COVID-19 pandemic
The adoption of digital technology by nurses accelerated during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, not all nurses were familiar with the various digital systems used in their organisations and there were reports of digital technology not being fit for purpose. This article describes a service evaluation that used an online survey to obtain nurses’ feedback on the digital systems used to support patient care during the pandemic. Fifty-five respondents provided details about 85 separate digital systems. The usability of these systems varied significantly across technology types, while barriers to their use included nurses’ lack of digital literacy and inadequate access to IT infrastructure. However, most of the nurse respondents felt that digital technology had supported effective patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2023.e12013
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
CorrespondenceDowding D, Skyrme S, Randell R et al (2023) Researching nurses’ use of digital technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2023.e12013
AcknowledgementWe would like to acknowledge the Burdett Trust for Nursing, and the contribution of Angela Reed and Manoj Mistry in the design of this study and reporting of the findings
Published online: 09 May 2023
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