Exploring nurses' intention to use a computerized platform in the resuscitation unit: development and validation of a questionnaire based on the theory of planned behavior.

BACKGROUND: In emergency department resuscitation units, writing down information related to interventions, physical examination, vital signs, investigations, and treatments ordered is a crucial task carried out by nurses. To facilitate this task, a team composed of emergency physicians, nurses, and one computer engineer created a novel electronic platform equipped with a tactile screen that allows systematic collection of critical data. This electronic platform also has medical software (ReaScribe+) that functions as an electronic medical record and a clinical decision support system.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a questionnaire that can help evaluate nurses' intention to use a novel computerized platform in an emergency department resuscitation unit, based on Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB).

METHODS: The sample for this study was composed of 87 nurses who worked in the resuscitation unit of a tertiary trauma center. We held three focus groups with nurses working in the resuscitation unit to identify the salient modal beliefs regarding their intended use of a new electronic medical charting system for the care of trauma patients. The system included a clinical decision support tool. We developed a questionnaire in which salient modal beliefs were used as items to evaluate the TPB constructs. We also added 13 questions to evaluate nurses' computer literacy. The final questionnaire was composed of 46 questions to be answered on a 7-point Likert scale. All nurses in the resuscitation unit and present during a regular work shift were individually contacted by the principal investigator or a research assistant (phase 1). A subsample of the nurses who completed the questionnaire was invited to complete it a second time 2 weeks later (phase 2).

RESULTS: In phase 1, we received 62 of the 70 questionnaires administered (89% response rate). Of the 27 questionnaires administered in phase 2 (retest phase), 25 were completed (93% response rate). The questionnaire showed very good internal consistency, as Cronbach alpha was higher than .7 for all constructs. Temporal stability was acceptable with intraclass correlations between .41 and .66. The intention to use the electronic platform to chart the resuscitation of trauma patients was very high among the respondents. In the logistic regression model, the only construct that predicted nurses' intention to adopt the computerized platform was the professional norm (odds ratio 3.31, 95% confidence interval 1.41-7.78).

CONCLUSIONS: We developed and validated a questionnaire that can now be used in other emergency departments prior to implementation of the computerized platform. The intention to adopt was very high among the respondents, which suggests that the implementation of this innovation could be successful at our institution.