TY - JOUR
T1 - Experienced time pressure and stress
T2 - Electronic health records usability and information technology competence play a role
AU - Vehko, Tuulikki
AU - Hyppönen, Hannele
AU - Puttonen, Sampsa
AU - Kujala, Sari
AU - Ketola, Eeva
AU - Tuukkanen, Johanna
AU - Aalto, Anna Mari
AU - Heponiemi, Tarja
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Finnish Work Environment Fund (project 116104), the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland (project 303604), and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (project 112241). None of them had any role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data or in the writing.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019/8/14
Y1 - 2019/8/14
N2 - Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are an elementary part of the work of registered nurses (RNs) in healthcare. RNs are the largest group of healthcare workers, and their experiences with EHRs and their informatics competence play a crucial role in a fluent workflow. The present study examined EHR usability factors and nurses' informatics competence factors related to self-reported time pressure and psychological distress. Methods: A nationwide survey was conducted for working-age registered nurses in 2017. The study sample included 3607 nurses (5% men) in Finland. The association of age, sex, employment sector, EHR usability factors, and nurses' informatics competence factors with time pressure and psychological distress were examined with analyses of covariance. Results: The EHR usability factors that were associated with high time pressure were low EHR reliability and poor user-friendliness. Regarding the nurses' informatics competence factors, only low e-Care competence was associated with time pressure. Of the EHR usability factors, low EHR reliability and low support for cooperation were associated with high psychological distress. Of the nurses' informatics competence factors, low e-Care competence was associated with high psychological distress. Conclusions: Unreliability and poor user-friendliness of EHRs seem to be prominent sources of time pressure and psychological distress among registered nurses. User-friendly EHR systems and digital tools in healthcare are needed. Nurses' competence to use eHealth tools to tailor patient care should be strengthened through organizational and regional actions. For example, house rules about how to use eHealth tools and instructions on common practices in cooperation with other organizations could be useful.
AB - Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are an elementary part of the work of registered nurses (RNs) in healthcare. RNs are the largest group of healthcare workers, and their experiences with EHRs and their informatics competence play a crucial role in a fluent workflow. The present study examined EHR usability factors and nurses' informatics competence factors related to self-reported time pressure and psychological distress. Methods: A nationwide survey was conducted for working-age registered nurses in 2017. The study sample included 3607 nurses (5% men) in Finland. The association of age, sex, employment sector, EHR usability factors, and nurses' informatics competence factors with time pressure and psychological distress were examined with analyses of covariance. Results: The EHR usability factors that were associated with high time pressure were low EHR reliability and poor user-friendliness. Regarding the nurses' informatics competence factors, only low e-Care competence was associated with time pressure. Of the EHR usability factors, low EHR reliability and low support for cooperation were associated with high psychological distress. Of the nurses' informatics competence factors, low e-Care competence was associated with high psychological distress. Conclusions: Unreliability and poor user-friendliness of EHRs seem to be prominent sources of time pressure and psychological distress among registered nurses. User-friendly EHR systems and digital tools in healthcare are needed. Nurses' competence to use eHealth tools to tailor patient care should be strengthened through organizational and regional actions. For example, house rules about how to use eHealth tools and instructions on common practices in cooperation with other organizations could be useful.
KW - Electronic health records
KW - Information systems
KW - Registered nurses
KW - Time pressure, psychological distress, GHQ, general health questionnaire
U2 - 10.1186/s12911-019-0891-z
DO - 10.1186/s12911-019-0891-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 31412859
AN - SCOPUS:85071164661
SN - 1472-6947
VL - 19
JO - BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
JF - BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
IS - 1
M1 - 160
ER -
