Digitization in Everyday Nursing Care: A Vignette Study in German Hospitals

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 30;19(17):10775. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710775.

Abstract

(1) Background: Digitization in hospital nursing promises to transform the organization of care processes and, therefore, provide relief to nurse staffing shortages. While technological solutions are advanced and application fields numerous, comprehensive implementation remains challenging. Nursing leadership is crucial to digital change processes. This vignette study examined the effects of the motives and values on nurses' motivation to use innovative technologies. (2) Methods: We asked hospital nurses in an online vignette study to assess a fictitious situation about the introduction of digital technology. We varied the devices on the degree of novelty (tablet/smart glasses), addressed motives (intrinsic/extrinsic), and values (efficiency/patient orientation). (3) Results: The analysis included 299 responses. The tablet vignettes caused more motivation than those of the smart glasses (Z = -6.653, p < 0.001). The dataset did not show significant differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motives. The nursing leader was more motivating when emphasizing efficiency rather than patient orientation (Z = -2.995, p = 0.003). (4) Conclusions: The results suggest efficiency as a motive for using known digital technologies. The nursing staff's willingness to use digital technology is generally high. Management actions can provide a structural framework and training so that nursing leaders can ensure their staff's engagement in using also unknown devices.

Keywords: digital health; digitalization; digitization; hospital; nurses; nursing; vignette experiment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Digital Technology
  • Hospitals
  • Humans
  • Leadership*
  • Nursing Staff, Hospital*

Grants and funding

This research was supported as part of the project “Innovation and digital transformation in healthcare” (ATLAS-ITG) by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (grant number: ITG-1-1).