A Computers in Nursing course: outcome literacy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Computer Literacy↗
SEARCH · Search PubMed
Results for “Computer Literacy”
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Evaluation of a tool to categorize patients by reading literacy and computer skill to facilitate the computer-administered patient interview.
Past efforts to collect clinical information directly from patients using computers have had limited utility because these efforts required users to be literate and facile with the computerized information collecting system. In this paper we describe the creation and use of a computer-based tool designed to assess a user's reading literacy and computer skill for the purpose of adapting the human-computer interface to fit the identified skill levels of the user. The tool is constructed from a regression model based on 4 questions that we identified in a laboratory study to be highly predictive of reading literacy and 2 questions predictive of computer skill. When used in 2 diverse clinical practices the tool categorized low literacy users so that they received appropriate support to enter data through the computer, enabling them to perform as well as high literacy users. Confirmation of the performance of the tool with a validated reading assessment instrument showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.0025) between the two levels of reading literacy defined by the tool. Our assessment tool can be administered through a computer in less than two minutes without requiring any special training or expertise making it useful for rapidly determining users' aptitudes.
Computer Literacy↗
Assessing outcomes of an academic computing initiative.
Academic computing initiatives rank high on the list of priorities of many dental schools. However, outcomes of academic computing initiatives have not been presented. The objectives of this program evaluation were to: 1) document a strategic initiative for academic computing over a five-year period; 2) assess outcomes; and 3) demonstrate how outcomes assessment changed strategic goals for the future. In 1992, Temple University School of Dentistry developed an academic computing plan. The plan proposed to develop the computer literacy of faculty, teach students the computer skills they need to be successful in their careers, and introduce computer-aided instruction as a new teaching tool. Before a new five-year plan was developed in 1997, the original plan's outcomes were summarily assessed. Assessment instruments included faculty and student surveys, budgets, inventory records, and utilization statistics. The school has reached two of three goals of the 1992 plan. Eighty percent of all full-time faculty have computers, are computer literate, and use computers for a variety of purposes. The school has implemented a comprehensive predoctoral dental informatics curriculum. However, the implementation of computer-aided instruction has not met expectations. Goals of the 1998-2003 plan include establishing an online learning infrastructure, improving student access, implementing computer-based oral health records, and further improving the computer literacy of faculty and students. Planning and supporting academic computing initiatives is a substantial challenge. Factors such as institutional culture, capital investment, ongoing support, and technological change influence plans and their success. While process and structure can be assessed relatively easily, measures for changed educational outcomes are still lacking.
Budgets↗
Interactive computer experience. The missing ingredient.
Interactive computer experiences are an integral component of a computer literacy course. Examples of computer exercises are provided for faculty to adapt for computer literacy courses for nurses.
Computer-Assisted Instruction↗
Medical students' and housestaff's opinions of computerized order-writing.
BACKGROUND: Greater use of computers has been touted as one way in which health care quality can be enhanced while reducing costs. The authors assessed factors associated with acceptance of computerized order-writing. METHOD: From April 1990 through October 1991 a survey was administered to 275 medical students and housestaff who used computer workstations to write all their orders on the general medicine wards at Wishard Memorial Hospital. The survey assessed computer literacy, ease of workstation use, effects on practice and time management, and usefulness of information provided. RESULTS: A total of 212 (77%) of the computer-workstation users responded. Opinions were generally positive. Those of junior students were the most positive, with opinions declining progressively for senior students, interns, and residents. The housestaff were most critical of time spent using the workstations, although they required less time to write orders than the students did. CONCLUSION: The favorableness of the respondents' opinions declined as the level of training increased, a trend that was independent of computer literacy. Hence, increasing computer use by physicians will probably require modification of the educational and socialization process rather than mere reliance on increasing computer literacy.
Analysis of Variance↗
Financial statistics for public health dispensary decisions in Nigeria: insights on standard presentation typologies.
Public health dispensaries in Nigeria in recent times have demonstrated the poise to boost corporate productivity in the new millennium and to drive the nation closer to concretising the lofty goal of health-for-all. This is very pronounced considering the face-lift giving to the physical environment, increase in the recruitment and development of professionals, and upward review of financial subventions. However, there is little or no emphasis on basic statistical appreciation/application which enhances the decision making ability of corporate executives. This study used the responses from 120 senior public health officials in Nigeria and analyzed them with chi-square statistical technique. The results established low statistical aptitude, inadequate statistical training programmes, little/no emphasis on statistical literacy compared to computer literacy, amongst others. Consequently, it was recommended that these lapses be promptly addressed to enhance official executive performance in the establishments. Basic statistical data presentation typologies have been articulated in this study to serve as first-aid instructions to the target group, as they represent the contributions of eminent scholars in this area of intellectualism.
Administrative Personnel↗
[Electronic medical records in somatic hospitals--availability and clinical use].
BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that 53 out of 72 Norwegian hospitals (as of January 2001) have introduced electronic medical records systems (EMR), very few evaluation or comparisons between such systems have been published. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We developed a questionnaire for physicians with items on computer literacy, use of electronic medical records and user satisfaction that was sent in January 2001 to 314 hospital physicians. 227 physicians responded (72%). Details about local system implementation were collected through telephone interviews with key IT personnel in each hospital. RESULTS: EMR functions were available for a total of 15 out of 23 tasks listed in our questionnaire. The majority of physicians used EMR for between two and seven tasks that mainly covered reading patient data, though respondents scored highly on computer literacy (72.2/100). INTERPRETATION: There is a substantial discrepancy between the reported use of EMR systems and the functions available in the systems. The causes are not known, but lack of computer literacy is a less probable cause.
Attitude to Computers↗
Pharmacist computer skills and needs assessment survey.
BACKGROUND: To use technology effectively for the advancement of patient care, pharmacists must possess a variety of computer skills. We recently introduced a novel applied informatics program in this Canadian hospital clinical service unit to enhance the informatics skills of our members. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to gain a better understanding of the baseline computer skills and needs of our hospital pharmacists immediately prior to the implementation of an applied informatics program. METHODS: In May 2001, an 84-question written survey was distributed by mail to 106 practicing hospital pharmacists in our multi-site, 1500-bed, acute-adult-tertiary care Canadian teaching hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. RESULTS: Fifty-eight surveys (55% of total) were returned within the two-week study period. The survey responses reflected the opinions of licensed BSc and PharmD hospital pharmacists with a broad range of pharmacy practice experience. Most respondents had home access to personal computers, and regularly used computers in the work environment for drug distribution, information management, and communication purposes. Few respondents reported experience with handheld computers. Software use experience varied according to application. Although patient-care information software and e-mail were commonly used, experience with spreadsheet, statistical, and presentation software was negligible. The respondents were familiar with Internet search engines, and these were reported to be the most common method of seeking clinical information online. Although many respondents rated themselves as being generally computer literate and not particularly anxious about using computers, the majority believed they required more training to reach their desired level of computer literacy. Lack of familiarity with computer-related terms was prevalent. Self-reported basic computer skill was typically at a moderate level, and varied depending on the task. Specifically, respondents rated their ability to manipulate files, use software help features, and install software as low, but rated their ability to access and navigate the Internet as high. Respondents were generally aware of what online resources were available to them and Clinical Pharmacology was the most commonly employed reference. In terms of anticipated needs, most pharmacists believed they needed to upgrade their computer skills. Medical database and Internet searching skills were identified as those in greatest need of improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Most pharmacists believed they needed to upgrade their computer skills. Medical database and Internet searching skills were identified as those in greatest need of improvement for the purposes of improving practice effectiveness.
Adult↗
Clinical decision support software for management of chronic heart failure: development and evaluation.
OBJECTIVE: To develop and evaluate clinical decision support software (CDSS) to aid physicians treat patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). METHODS: The CDSS was developed after discussions with a multidisciplinary panel. Evaluation was performed in three stages over a 6 month period including an editorial check, one-to-one interviews with potential users and educational meetings with general practitioners (GPs), junior doctors and medical students during which the CDSS was assessed in a cross-over design against paper guidelines. Opinions of the CDSS and the computer literacy of the participants were assessed by questionnaire. RESULTS: There were several changes to the CDSS at various stages of development and evaluation. One-to-one interviews generated extensive qualitative feedback. GPs had lower computer literacy scores than junior doctors and students (both p<0.01). There were small trends when comparing the CDSS with paper guidelines. GPs scored less well (CDSS 75% vs. 80%, p=0.41), while junior doctors and medical students appeared to improve their scores (72%-84%, p=0.32 and 66%-77%, p=0.19, respectively). Most (70%) found the CDSS more useful than the written guidelines. CONCLUSION: Development of CDSS using guidelines and expert opinion requires a multidisciplinary iterative process of feedback and software adaptation. Barriers to implementation identified include lower computer literacy among GPs, a lack of complexity within CDSS in addressing non-medical needs of patients and a reluctance among medical staff to consult guidelines during patient consultations. Improving computer skills, integrating CDSS into referral pathways and requests for investigations may be ways of enhancing use of this emerging technology.
Cardiology↗
The RN-BSN bridge course: transitioning the re-entry learner.
BACKGROUND: Although most RN-to-BSN programs offer bridge courses, little can be found in the literature about common course objectives, content, or outcomes. METHOD: This article details course objectives, course content, course implementation, and preliminary outcomes of a primarily distance learning RN-to-BSN bridge course at a northern California university. RESULTS: Preliminary outcome assessments suggested greater than expected increases in role and campus socialization, as well as computer literacy, as a result of RN-to-BSN bridge course implementation. CONCLUSION: The RN-to-BSN bridge course can successfully be used to transition the re-entry student and may be the link allowing RN-to-BSN students to effectively face the concurrent challenges of role socialization and computer literacy while mastering course content and course objectives.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Conquering technophobia: preparing faculty for today.
The constantly changing world of technology creates excitement and an obligation for faculty of schools of nursing to address computer literacy in the curricula at all levels. The initial step in the process of meeting the goals was to assist the faculty in becoming computer literate so that they could foster and encourage the same in the students. The implementation of The Cure for Technophobia included basic and advanced computer skills designed to assist the faculty in becoming comfortable and competent computer users. The applications addressed included: introduction to windows, electronic mail, word processing, presentation and database applications, library on-line searches of literature databases, introduction to internet browsers and a computerized testing program. Efforts were made to overcome barriers to computer literacy and promote the learning process. Familiar, competent, computer literate individuals were used to conduct the classes to accomplish this goal.
Attitude to Computers↗
Learning resources for medical computing.
For medical professionals to acquire computer literacy can be an arduous task. Resources for learning medical computing fall into four major categories: learning technical microcomputer use, computerizing an office practice, tracking patient care experience and integrating medical information systems. Both microcomputer use and tracking patient care experience are technical skills similar to learning any medical procedure with which physicians are already familiar. These skills can be acquired by consulting general, commercial resources such as computer stores, popular computer magazines or software manuals. Computerizing an office practice involves diagnosing office information problems by thoroughly analyzing how data flow during outpatient care. Medical information system design and management is a cognitive specialty in which principles of computer science and medical information management are applied to patient care experience.
Computer Literacy↗
Evaluation of Web-based computer-aided instruction in a basic science course.
PURPOSE: To demonstrate the applicability of server statistics, in combination with user surveys, to evaluate utilization of Web-based computer-aided instruction (CAI) in the undergraduate medical curriculum. METHOD: Individual user surveys with students' names provided information about computer literacy prior to the course and use of CAI during the course. Utilization of specific web-based CAI developed for the course was recorded by server software and the daily logs correlated with course content. Regression analyses were used to measure correlation of server access logs of individual students versus information from user surveys and performances in the course based on in-course examinations. RESULTS: There was no correlation between computer literacy of students at matriculation and their subsequent levels of use of CAI in the curriculum. Utilization of CAI developed for specific course objectives coincided closely with course content, which is an indication of the effectiveness of the applications in achieving their curricular objectives. In contrast, student use of tutorials coincided most closely with in-course examinations. Students' responses to surveys were generally substantiated by server statistics, but discrepancies were sufficiently large (10% to 20%) to call into question the validity of these surveys. Significant differences in CAI utilization correlated with the performances of students in the course. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates an important advantage of web-based applications to collect and evaluate CAI utilization efficiently and objectively at both the level of the class and the level of the individual student.
Computer Literacy↗
Microcomputer education for nursing: an approach to microcomputer education in a large tertiary care center.
Communication skills needed for the healthcare environment are changing. In the past, poor reading and writing skills made it difficult to use a paper chart. Current computer technology provides many new opportunities for communicating in the clinical setting. Computer literacy has become a necessary skill for efficient use of clinical computer systems. At this large tertiary care setting, a survey was developed and distributed to staff to assess learner needs. Nursing staff identified educational needs for basic computer knowledge, the ability to move between computer functions, and the skills to navigate through specific applications. Based on survey analysis, three educational classes were constructed that addressed the department's specific needs.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗
Australian Infection Control Association members' use of skills and resources that promote evidence-based infection control.
BACKGROUND: To adopt an evidence-based approach, professionals must be able to access, identify, interpret, and critically appraise best evidence. Critical appraisal requires essential skills, such as computer literacy and an understanding of research principles. These skills also are required for professionals to contribute to evidence. METHODS: In 1996, members of the Australian Infection Control Association were surveyed to establish a profile including the extent to which they were reading infection control publications, using specific documents for policy and guideline development, developing and undertaking research, publishing research, and using computers. The relationships between demographics, computer use, and research activity were examined. RESULTS: The response rate was 63. 4% (630/993). The study group comprised mostly women (96.1%), and most (66.4%) were older than 40 years of age. Median infection control experience was 4 years (mean, 5.4 years; range, <12 months to 35 years). When developing guidelines and policies (92.7%; 584/630), infection control professionals reviewed State Health Department Infection Control Guidelines and Regulations. Research relating to infection control was undertaken by 21.5% (135/628) of the sample, and 27.6% (37/134) of this group published their research findings. Of the respondents (51.1%; 318/622) who used a computer to undertake infection control tasks, the majority (89.0%) used a personal computer for word processing. CONCLUSION: Regardless of infection control experience, Australian infection control professionals must be adequately prepared to contribute to, access, appraise, and where appropriate, apply best evidence to their practice. We suggest that computer literacy, an understanding of research principles, and familiarity with infection control literature are three essential skills that infection control professionals must possess and regularly exercise.
Adult↗
The paperless essay: one way to teach writing and computer skills in medical school.
We designed an assignment for first-year medical students that included instruction in writing and in computer use, two important subjects that are usually neglected in the traditional curriculum. As part of a neuroscience course, students wrote an essay using a word processor and submitted it to the instructor via the campus computer network. If requested by the instructor, the students submitted a revision of their essays without a grade penalty. As a result of completing the assignment, students learned the importance of revision and were stimulated to learn more about computers. With only slight modification of medical school courses, faculty can place more emphasis on writing skills and computer literacy.
Computer Literacy↗
[Computerization: equipment, attitudes and aptitudes at health centers of the Autonomous Basque Community].
OBJECTIVE: To find the material complement, skills and attitudes towards computers of professionals working in the Primary Care field in the Basque Autonomous Community. DESIGN: A descriptive study based on a personal questionnaire. SETTING: Primary Care Centre of Osakidetza-Basque Health service. MAIN RESULTS: Overall reply rate was 83.5%. The actual hardware complement was only 8% of that required. Hardware needs were calculated as 89 regular and 6 occasional outlets for each 100 professionals. A minimum of 27% of the network's professionals already used a computer. About 2,000 people needed first-contact training. Proficiency training needs oscillated between 25 and 50% of the staff in function of the type of software. CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant equipment deficit. Professionals are highly sensitised to the reality of computerisation, as both the high rate of reply and the desire to acquire computer literacy confirm.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗
A usability study of physicians interaction with a paper-based patient record system and a graphical-based electronic patient record system.
The user interface of an electronic patient record system can significantly improve user acceptance and ease its adoption process. The design of a user interface should take into consideration the characteristics and the needs of the user incorporating usability engineering principles in the lifecycle of its development. In this paper we describe a study of physician interaction with a paper-based patient record system and a graphical-based electronic patient record system. The usability attributes of learnability, efficiency and satisfaction are evaluated on the whole spectrum of physicians' activities with patient record systems. The results of the study did not reveal a significant difference in the overall time to complete typical physician tasks. However, on average physicians can perform viewing tasks faster, documenting tasks slower and ordering tasks at about the same speed on the graphical-based system than on the paper based system. Physicians were found to be significantly more satisfied with the graphical-based system than with the paper-based system. The results also revealed that physicians with higher levels of computer literacy and typing skills can complete typical tasks in significantly less time on a graphical-based system than physicians with lower levels of computer literacy and typing skills.
Attitude to Computers↗