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| Title: | What are mental health nurses attitudes towards information technology and how will the introduction of a new electronic mental health information system improve the data availability for the management of a mental health service in Ireland? [thesis]/by Liam Donnelly |
| Other Titles: | A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Award of the degree of Master of science in health services management. |
| Authors: | Donnelly, Liam |
| Affiliation: | Health Service Executive (HSE), Donegal Mental Health Service, Dungloe Community Hospital |
| Publisher: | University of Dublin, Trinity College. |
| Issue Date: | Dec-2009 |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10147/145543 |
| Type: | Thesis |
| Language: | en |
| Description: | The mental health services in Ireland are currently going through a change process with the publication of A Vision for Change (Government of Ireland 2006). This report
recommended measures should be put in place to collect data on community-based
mental health services and an electronic patient record (EPR) should be introduced. This
study aimed to gauge the impact of these recommendations on a mental health service
both in the delivery of care and the impact on mental health nurses.
A review of the literature in relation to IT and health revealed that there was an
abundance of research and studies regarding IT and health in general, but there was a
limited body of knowledge on IT and mental health, particularly in the Irish context.
The focus of this study was to examine Irish mental health nurses’ attitudes towards IT.
The central theme was to explore how and if the introduction of a new electronic mental
health information system (WISDOM) would assist in the management of a mental
health service in Ireland, and if it would impact on the delivery of care.
A quantitative approach was utilised to answer the research questions of this study.
Mental health nurses from a mental health service in Donegal (n=200) were invited to
participate in this study. A questionnaire was used to collect mostly quantitative data
about mental health nurses knowledge and attitudes towards IT. The questionnaire
received a response rate of 62.5% (n=125).
Findings from this study show that the majority of mental health nurses (95%; n=117)
do have access to technology at work, but only 50% (n=62) replied that they used a
computer for work purposes. Respondents were most confident with using a (computer)
mouse 93% (n=114) and respondents used IT applications most for continuing
professional education (33%; n=41) and accessing evidence based practice (27%; n=
33). When asked if computers contributed to their professional role as a mental health
nurse? 54.5% (n=68) of respondents agreed/strongly agreed that it did. Forty six per
cent (n=57) of respondents replied that the WISDOM system would have a positive
impact on the delivery of the mental health service. Forty eight per cent (n=61) replied
that WISDOM would improve and add to the delivery of patient care. It does appear
from the findings that mental health nurses were unclear and unsure about the
v
introduction of the new WISDOM system. This may change as staff become more
familiar with its use.
This study highlights a number of issues for concern and further research should be
undertaken to evaluate the impact on the standard of care and the cost-effectiveness of
an increase in computer use in the area of mental health. This study could also be
broadened to evaluate the use of IT among mental health nurses nationally and/or the
impact of the introduction of WISDOM? |
| Keywords: | MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
NURSING
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY |
| Appears in Collections: | Dungloe Community Hospital
|
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