Digital Technologies and the Role of Health Care Professionals: Scoping Review Exploring Nurses’ Skills in the Digital Era and in the Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background The nursing role significantly changed following reforms in the nurse training process. Nowadays, nurses are increasingly trained to promote and improve the quality of clinical practice and to provide support in the assistance of patients and communities. Opportunities and threats are emerging as a consequence of the introduction of new disruptive technologies in public health, which requires the health care staff to develop new digital skills. Objective The aim of this paper is to review and define the role of nurses and the skills they are asked to master in terms of new methodological approaches and digital knowledge in a continuously evolving health care scenario that relies increasingly more on technology and digital solutions. Methods This scoping review was conducted using a thematic summary of previous studies. Authors collected publications through a cross-database search (PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar) related to new telemedicine approaches impacting the nurses’ role, considering the time span of 2011-2021 and therefore including experiences and publications related to the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results The assessment was completed between April and July 2021. After a cross-database search, authors reviewed a selection of 60 studies. The results obtained were organized into 5 emerging macro areas: (1) leadership (nurses are expected to show leadership capabilities when introducing new technologies in health care practices, considering their pivotal role in coordinating various professional figures and the patient), (2) soft skills (new communication skills, adaptiveness, and problem solving are needed to adapt the interaction to the level of digital skills and digital knowledge of the patient), (3) training (specific subjects need to be added to nursing training to boost the adoption of new communication and technological skills, enabling health care professionals to largely and effectively use new digital tools), (4) remote management of COVID-19 or chronic patients during the pandemic (a role that has proved to be fundamental is the community and family nurse and health care systems are adopting novel assistance models to support patients at home and to enable decentralization of services from hospitals to the territory), and (5) management of interpersonal relationships with patients through telemedicine (a person-centered approach with an open and sensitive attitude seems to be even more important in the framework of telemedicine where a face-to-face session is not possible and therefore nonverbal indicators are more problematic to be noticed). Conclusions Further advancing nurses’ readiness in adopting telemedicine requires an integrated approach, including combination of technical knowledge, management abilities, soft skills, and communication skills. This scoping review provides a wide-ranging and general—albeit valuable—starting point to identify these core competences and better understand their implications in terms of present and future health care professionals’ roles.

Importance of Soft Skills in Health Sciences Students and Their Repercussion after the COVID-19 Epidemic: Scoping Review

“…To provide quality health care, not only technical training is required, but also competence in soft skills, such as communication, critical thinking, and group management, among others [ 51 , 52 ]. Most studies agree on this point, although there is no consensus on how these skills should be developed in students [ 53 , 54 , 55 ]. The American Association of Nursing Councils established new guidelines for nursing education in 2021 in a report entitled The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education [ 56 ].…”

Nursing Informatics' Contribution to One Health

“…The research on digital in nursing and patient care included e.g., a study outlining key areas to effectively integrate digital technologies into practice: "Leadership, soft skills in relation to communication, use of digital technologies, remote management of patients and developing understanding of the changes in communication in a digital environment" [48]. The research on evidence for timely issues in practice covered studies exploring technology use during COVID-19, such as development and impact of a digital vaccination card on nursing and citizens [49] and use of virtual reality to address infection control practice for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to simulate real life environments for donning and doffing PPE [50].…”

Usefulness of a Digitally Assisted Person-Centered Care Intervention: Qualitative Study of Patients’ and Nurses’ Experiences in a Long-term Perspective

“…The nurses in our study felt responsible for the functionality of the technology and ensuring that the individual patients had the necessary digital skills before engaging in DA-GSD. A scoping review on the role of nurses and the skills needed to master technology and digital solutions [22] found that communication skills, adaptiveness, and problem-solving were needed to adapt the interaction to the patients' digital skills and digital knowledge. Therefore, training nurses in new communication and technological skills was important for advancing their readiness to adopt telemedicine [22].…”

“…A scoping review on the role of nurses and the skills needed to master technology and digital solutions [22] found that communication skills, adaptiveness, and problem-solving were needed to adapt the interaction to the patients' digital skills and digital knowledge. Therefore, training nurses in new communication and technological skills was important for advancing their readiness to adopt telemedicine [22]. This is in line with our findings, which showed that the nurses felt responsible for the technical functionality and needed individual supervision in DA-GSD, and is reflected in feedback about the challenges they experienced to increase their confidence in facilitating DA-GSD.…”