KNOWLEDGE , AWARENESS AND PRACTICE OF NURSES ON THE USE OF CONTEMPORARY TECHNOLOGY FOR QUALITY HEALTHCARE DELIVERY IN FMC UMUAHIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In recent years, wealthy countries' economic priority have turned away from manufacturing and toward services. Health garners attention as a critical sector that is central to both production and service activities in contemporary society (Li & Benton, 2018). Technology advancement is a significant aspect impacting the health industry. However, it is critical that the technologies to be used have a characteristic that can positively impact the patient's needs (Black 2017). The rate at which advanced technology is adopted in the healthcare sector largely determines the technology's impact on the cost of health care and patient satisfaction (Buntin, 2019). Additionally, technology could enhance communication between patients and health-care professionals, enhancing service delivery efficiency and decreasing wait times (West, 2017). Technology should enable quick patient evaluation and response (Meretoja 2017).

Technological advancements have reshaped the medical scene during the previous three decades. The days of painstaking charting and hand filing are numbered. Patients now have greater access to their data than ever before thanks to growing technologies like telemedicine and electronic recordkeeping. In the nursing profession, technology enables RNs to increase their efficiency and communication effectiveness.

In nursing practice, modern technology refers to the use of structured knowledge and abilities in the form of gadgets, drugs, vaccinations, procedures, and systems that have been developed to address a health issue and enhance people's quality of life (West, 2018).

Meretoja (2017) asserts that the use of modern technologies into health care has become a global trend. Global developments, particularly the emergence of new illnesses such as Coronavirus, Ebola virus, and Lassa fever, have resulted in an increase in the creation of technology in nursing practice in order to address these new difficulties. In their daily job, nurses come into contact with new devices, tools, and other sophisticated technology utilized in patient care. While incorporating contemporary technology into nursing procedures boosts nurses' productivity, it also alters the way patients are cared for (Li & Benton, 2016). According to Okpala (2018), the use of current technology is a critical component of fundamental skill areas in nursing practice. This has the potential to enhance patient health and nurse performance, resulting in higher quality, cost savings, and more patient participation in their own health care. Despite the emphasis on the use of technology to improve patient care and safety, in Africa, contemporary technology is either not used at all or is used inefficiently. Only approximately 26% of nurses utilize contemporary technology in their patient care, and only a tiny fraction of nurses displayed adequate understanding of computers and information technology, indicating a poor pattern of modern technology usage in nursing practice. The fact that nurses had more possibilities for training in the use of new technology as a result of their occupation did not convert into increased knowledge and usage patterns (Okpala, 2018). A research conducted in South Africa's Eastern Cape region, one of the poorest provinces in the nation with huge rural areas. The province established a contemporary technology system to improve health care services, however despite significant expenditures from the National Department of Health, only one-third of the province's modern technologies are functioning.

While some nurses are opposed to new technology, claiming that it eliminates personal touch at the bedside, a poll of 600 nurses found that 82 percent felt that technology improves patient care. For them, the new technologies accessible in health systems enable them reclaim time in their days – and with nurse burnout on the rise daily, this may keep nurses in their practice setting (Agha, 2016).

Nursing's increasing technical advancements are the healthcare industry's wave of the future. Emerging new technologies in EHRs, artificial intelligence, mobile applications, and software development are gaining traction as more hospitals and health systems integrate them into their health systems. While communication has limitations, it is obvious that information technology has the potential to improve the quality of life for nurses and registered nurses equally.

It is asserted that the advancement of technology benefits patient satisfaction by increasing the efficiency, quality, and favorable perceptions of patients towards health care providing (Okpala, 2018). One of health systems' primary objectives is to lower the per capita cost of healthcare services (Agha, 2016). As a result, a balance must be struck between the pursuit of new technologies to increase the quality of care and the goal of lowering the per capita cost of healthcare (Okpala, 2018).

Thus, nurses must be able to negotiate the fast-paced, convoluted nature of our healthcare delivery system, and nurses must be prepared to handle the demands of patients, sophisticated technology, more responsibilities, and decreased physician interaction. Furthermore, we are living in an era of evidence-based practice, and while it is undeniable that combining evidence-based practice and technology enables nurses to incorporate best practices from the nursing literature into their client care, meaningful evidence-based practice is only possible through the lens of ICT-enhanced practice. Additionally, the concept that ICT will assist compensate for the persistent nursing deficit while also increasing patient care is also reasonable.

​​​​​​​STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Technological constraints, such as unpredictable electrical supply and limited bandwidth, were cited as impediments to the successful application of new technology in South Africa, however these constraints have been resolved. Nonetheless, contemporary technologies continue to be poorly adopted (Black 2017). Another research in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, discovered that health professionals had limited awareness of current technologies, despite the fact that the majority supported the services. As a result, it is necessary to expand training workshops for health professionals and to do more research in the topic Meretoja (2017). Nurses' compliance with the use of this new technology is still very low, particularly in developing countries, where the majority of nurses feel incompetent and uneasy, particularly in the clinical area, posing a serious threat to patient safety, energy and time efficiency for patients and health providers, patient survival, and health-care worker safety. On the basis of this identified gap or problem, this study seeks to assess nurses' knowledge, awareness and practice of the use of modern technology for the delivery of high-quality healthcare.

​​​​​​​OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Broadly, the objective of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and awareness of nurses on the use of contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery. Precisely, other aims of this study are:

1. To determine the knowledge of nurses in FMC, Umuahia on the Use of Contemporary Technology for Quality Healthcare Delivery.

2. To find out the level of awareness on the use of contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery among nurses in FMC, Umuahia.

3. To identity the practice of contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery among nurses in FMC, Umuahia?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

These questions will be answered in this study:

1. What is the level of knowledge and awareness among nurses in FMC, Umuahia regarding the use of contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery?

2. To what extent do nurses in FMC, Umuahia practice the use of contemporary technology in their daily healthcare delivery, and what are the barriers and facilitators to its use?

3. How does the use of contemporary technology among nurses in FMC, Umuahia impact the quality of healthcare delivery, patient outcomes, and job satisfaction among nurses, and what are the implications for healthcare policy and practice?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be greatly impactful to health care professionals as the results of this study will show how important the use of technology is in promotion of quality services. This study will also reveal the impact and the effectiveness of technology in patients treatment.

The findings of this study will also be beneficial to health care administrators and policy makers as the study will reveal the important of adequate funding so that hospitals and health centres can be adequately provided with state of the arts technological equipments to be used by health care providers. Finally, this study will serve as a foundation for future proposal(s) on how to improve nurses' use of technology and, as a result, their information management, nursing care, and professional advancement.

​​​​​​​SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study’s main focus is on the knowledge and awareness of nurses on the use of contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery. This study precisely focused on determining the extent of nurses knowledge and awareness on the use of contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery and determining the extent contemporary technology is used by nurses for quality healthcare delivery in Nigeria. This study further focused on finding out whether nurses use of contemporary technology has improved healthcare delivery, examining the challenges nurses face in the use contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery in Nigeria and finding out ways in which the use of contemporary technology by nurses for quality healthcare delivery in Nigeria can be improved. Health workers in Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Abia state will be the respondents of this study.

​​​​​​​LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study’s main focus is limited to the knowledge and awareness of nurses on the use of contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery. This study will precisely be limited to determining the extent of nurses knowledge and awareness on the use of contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery and determining the extent contemporary technology is used by nurses for quality healthcare delivery in Nigeria. This study will further be limited to finding out whether nurses use of contemporary technology has improved healthcare delivery, examining the challenges nurses face in the use contemporary technology for quality healthcare delivery in Nigeria and finding out ways in which the use of contemporary technology by nurses for quality healthcare delivery in Nigeria can be improved.

 Health workers in Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Abia state were be the respondents of this study., this serves as a delimitation to this study as additional and adequate research is needed if this work is to be used anywhere else.

​​​​​​​DEFINITION OF TERMS

Knowledge: Knowledge is a familiarity or awareness, of someone or something, such as facts, skills, or objects, often contributing to understanding.

Awareness: Knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.

Technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.