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| E-Nursing for Canada (2006) |
In
2004, the Canadian Nurses Association (CAN) received funding to develop an
encompassing, comprehensive and collaborative strategy of providing a single
portal or gateway for nurses to access resources via the internet. This is to
address the absence of one single strategy that could unite all forms of
information and communication technology (ICT) for integration in nursing, now
called the e-nursing strategy.
It aims
to consider all domains of nursing practice and needs to benefit nurses and
their clients on a nationwide scale. The term e-nursing embodies integration of
ICT to Nursing.
At the
start of the implementation of the project, two groups were established to
facilitate implementation of e-nursing. The first team, the working group,
focused on identifying present health care and electronic environments and used
seven key results that are expected to occur once the strategy is implemented.
They identified actions needed for the next five (5) years and modeled the
portal based on these needs. The education group on the other hand, is
mobilized to provide nurses access to educational resources and offerings and
to facilitate exchange of ideas. This is in focus to e-learning, a part of the
e-nursing strategy whose aim is to provide opportunities for nurses to enhance
professional growth.
In
2005, the Can circulated a consultation document among stakeholders and
respondents which include nurses, the government and educators to draw in ideas
for the strategy. The document was divided into two (2) with part one (1) focusing
on E-nursing as a strategy and e-learning as part of the portal.
In
general, the strategy received positive feedback and was supported. Nurses who
acted as respondents approved the idea and emphasized the importance of having timely
and accessible information that can benefit the entire health care system. They
also recommended five (5) key areas for the CAN to act upon including:
marketing, advocating for access, ensuring sustainability, developing
partnerships and implementing the project. Most of the recommendations also
centered on the integration of ICT into nursing which includes: development of
competencies for nursing informatics and advocating for involvement of nurses
in decision making about information systems. Furthermore, educators recommend
the formation of a curriculum and nursing regulatory bodies to push for
improvement of competencies related to ICT.
For
E-learning, respondents believed that the ease of access to the portal is its
best asset. This is because it will provide nurses with current evidence-based
information and research including its guidelines and instructions. It will
bridge all domains of nursing and all nurses from all geographical areas to
provide information whenever they need it and with user friendly navigation
tools. It will also provide an opportunity for nurses to have access to
specific and general education as well as further studies related to
professional practice.
The
tools that should be offered online were also identified in the paper and
includes: up-to-date education programs, institutions and conferences, online
resources, tutorials for computer skills, online courses, current news and a
24-hour helpline.
However,
the strategy also drew in concerns from nurses. They identified that the two
main barriers they see in incorporating ICT in their work were their lack of
comfort and knowledge about computers and the internet and the lack of
computers and internet at work and at home. The access problems that may be
identified as the strategy gets implemented may be connected to the lack of
hardware, software and internet access among others.
For
more information about e-nursing strategy for Canada, the paper can be accessed
on https://www.cna-aiic.ca/~/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/e-nursing-strategy-for-canada.pdf?la=en
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