Nurses' Attitudes and Factors Affecting Use of Electronic Health Record in Saudi Arabia

(1) Background: Nurses' attitudes toward electronic health records (EHRs) is a very valuable issue that needs to be evaluated, understood, and considered one of the main factors that can lead to its improvement or handicap its implementation. This study aimed to assess nurses' attitudes toward EHRs and associated factors that affect the implementation of EHRs in different hospitals in Saudi Arabia. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study was utilized to collect data from 297 nurses working in public hospitals and primary healthcare centers in Ha'il Province from January to May 2023. Data were collected using the Nurses' Attitudes Towards Computerization questionnaire and a sociodemographic and work-related characteristics sheet. (3) Results: Most of the participants' attitude scores (81.1%, n = 241) were more than or equal to 60, representing positive attitudes, whereas 18.9% (n = 56) of the nurses' scores were less than 60, which is interpreted as negative attitudes. There was a significant relationship between nurses' attitudes toward EHRs and a participants' sex, where males had a more positive attitude than females (p < 0.001). Particularly, young nurses and those who had previous computer experience had a more positive attitude than older nurses and those who had no computer experience (p = 0.044 and < 0.001, respectively). Saudi nurses holding a master's degree had significantly more positive attitudes toward EHRs than non-Saudi nurses holding a bachelor's or diploma degree (p = 0.007 and 0.048, respectively). Nurses with less experience (less than five years) in the nursing field had a significantly positive attitude. Multiple linear regression showed that sex (p = 0.038), level of education (p = 0.001), and previous computer experience (p < 0.001) were independent factors of nurses' knowledge of EHRs. (4) Conclusion: The majority of nurses had positive overall attitudes toward using EHRs. Nurses who are Saudi nationals, male, younger, have previous computer experience, and have less than five years of experience had a more positive attitude toward EHRs than nurses who are non-Saudi, female, older, have no computer experience, have bachelor's or diploma degree, and have less than five years of experience, respectively. Sex, education level, and previous computer experience were independent factors of nurses' knowledge of EHRs.

Technology Personalities in the Classroom: A New Classification System of TechTypes from Expert to Techy Turtle

The incorporation of technology in higher education has increased rapidly in recent years to allow for remote work and to promote active learning. Technology use could align with personality type and adopter status as defined by the diffusion of innovations theory. A review of the literature was conducted using PubMed with 106 articles found, and 2 articles meeting the inclusion criteria of the study. Search terms included "technology AND education", "pharmacy AND personality", "technology AND faculty AND personality", and "technology AND health educators AND personality". This paper highlights the current literature and introduces a new classification system to describe the technology personalities of instructors. The proposed personality types (TechTypes) include expert, budding guru, adventurer, cautious optimist, and techy turtle. Awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of each personality type-as well as one's own technology personality-may guide the selection of collaborators and tailor technology training for future growth.

Factors impacting the rapid transition of anatomy curricula to an online environment in response to Covid-19

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many academic institutions had to rapidly transition education to a remote online environment. While a hurdle for most educators, this transition posed an even greater challenge for anatomy educators, many of whom were forced to depart from the traditional cadaver-based laboratory to a virtual format. Recent publications have discussed the rapid transition to online formats necessitated by Covid-19 and the accompanying difficulties, but none have identified specific factors that influenced the difficulty of this transition. Anatomy educators were surveyed to examine how this transition was accomplished and perceived. Of the 165 educators who responded, the majority utilized cadaver-based laboratory instruction. Educators felt that transitioning the laboratory portion of their courses was significantly more difficult and required more time than converting lecture materials. Factors that impacted the difficulty of the transition included a number of pedagogical aspects of the pre-Covid-19 curricula, including the delivery format of prior content, availability of pre-existing electronic materials, and the laboratory technique previously used. Additionally, the length of time an educator had been teaching prior to Covid-19 impacted their perception of difficulty, with newer and more senior educators finding this much more challenging than mid-tenure educators. Ease of transition may be related to previous exposure to curricular reform, experience with multiple anatomy pedagogies, and educator adaptability. While not surprising that converting a cadaver-based laboratory to an online format was challenging, knowledge of the alignment of this difficulty with prior educator pedagogy can help guide future innovations to anatomy education.

Generational Differences in Faculty and Student Comfort With Technology Use

Background

Navigating through online education courses continues to be a struggle for some nursing students. At the same time, integrating technology into online courses can be difficult for nursing faculty.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to assess faculty technology integration practices, student attitudes about technology use, and generational differences related to faculty and student technology use.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used to obtain data for this study.

Results

Integration of technology into online courses and student attitudes about technology use were not significantly different by generation. Faculty and students from the Baby Boomer and Generation X reported less comfort using technology and higher levels of anxiety using technology than did individuals from Generation Y.

Conclusion

Significant generational variations were not noted in relation to technology integration into courses and overall student attitudes about technology in this study, but differences were noted in relation to comfort with use of technology and anxiety when using technology. Student learning outcomes and satisfaction with learning may be influenced by the student’s comfort using technology and faculty’s confidence in integrating and using technology to provide online instruction.

The Digital Divide: Couple and Family Therapy Programs' Integration of Teletherapy Training and Education

The mental health field is increasingly integrating and growing a teletherapy presence, and couple and family therapists are uniquely situated to offer these services based on our history of innovative approaches to therapeutic services. To do so successfully, careful consideration of training and education must occur. To evaluate current teletherapy training and education opportunities of COAMFTE accredited couple, marriage, and family therapy programs, an inductive qualitative content analysis was conducted on the responses of 95 faculty at COAMFTE accredited programs. Findings indicate that more than two thirds of the participants were in favor of teletherapy integration in training programs; however, most programs currently do not offer such opportunities. Barriers that prevent such integration were highlighted as well as existing concerns to training graduate students in teletherapy. Implications for training programs, policies, and regulations are discussed.

Development and validation of gerontological nurse teacher scale

Several studies have advocated for having gerontological nurse teachers with special commitment to implement an aged-friendly curriculum, in order to facilitate student nurses' interest in gerontology careers. However, there is no existing instrument to assess whether gerontological nurse teachers possess such competences. This study describes the development and validation of an instrument for assessing the competence of gerontological nurse teachers. A total of 43 items categorized into seven constructs for the Gerontological Nurse Teacher Scale (GeNTS) emerged from the literature review in 2017. Experts (N = 19) then participated in a two-round Delphi feedback for content validity in May 2018. A pre-pilot study was then undertaken in October 2018 among undergraduate nursing students (n = 7) to ensure readability and understandability, followed by a pilot study on undergraduate nursing students (n = 196) for psychometric assessment. Based on experts' feedback and psychometric assessment, the final version of GeNTS consists of 33 items across five constructs namely: knowledge and interest; theoretical course and practical training development; leadership; gerontology career promotion and concerns about aging. The items are score on a five-point Likert scale from 1 = completely disagree to 5 = completely agree.