How Digital Systems Are Used in Swedish Home Care Nursing Practice

Abstract

This study investigates how digital technology is used (or not used) in home care nursing, to identify challenges and opportunities that can move the digitalization of home care nursing forward. The use of digital technology in daily practices of home care nursing was analyzed based on semistructured interviews in four Swedish home care organizations. The results correspond to the two initial stages of a design thinking process: (1) knowledge about users and the use context, presented as an up-to-date description of how digital technology has affected home care nursing practice, and (2) definition of areas for improvement, presented as challenges and opportunities. We identified the following areas to proceed with in the subsequent stages of designing home care nursing digitalization: (1) nurses' ability to access information and conduct documentation in the field, particularly how new digital systems are integrated with existing routines and systems; (2) the multitude of communication processes that nurses must manage, including communication channels that are used and the level of synchronicity; (3) an increasingly complex digital working environment, where evaluating existing systems and routines is one way to learn where improvements can be most efficient.

Good Practice in the Implementation of Digital Social Care Records: A Rapid Scoping Review (Preprint)

“…Five were undertaken in the United States [9,[14][15][16]18]. Three were carried out in Finland [51][52][53], two in Australia [11,13] , two in Canada [19,54] , and two in Sweden [12,55]. The remaining were undertaken in Switzerland [8], Japan [56], Austria [17], Italy [57], or involved multiple countries [6].…”

“…They are often used to monitor service users and track service delivery, supporting care planning, medication, and assessments [6][7][8][9][10]. Additionally, they are used for administrative purposes [8,11,12], to comply with data documentation regulations [13], and to instruct and make decisions about care delivery [14,15]. A range of terms are used to describe digital care records in the social care context.…”

Lähihoitajien kokemukset asiakas- ja potilastietojärjestelmien tuesta työtehtäviin – poikkileikkaustutkimus

“…Lähihoitajan työ vaatii laaja-alaista perushoitotyön osaamista, asiakaslähtöisyyttä ja monipuolisia vuorovaikutustaitoja [9]. Työ on moniammatillista, vaikka laajennetut tehtävänkuvat ovat myös kasvattaneet itsenäisen työn vaatimuksia ja työkuormaa [10,11]. Lähihoitajat vastaavat asiakkaiden perustarpeisiin perustuvasta hoidon suunnittelusta, toteutuksesta, arvioinnista, seurannasta, tiedon välittämisestä ja kirjaamisesta [12,13].…”

“…Vierellä kirjaaminen voi myös vähentää tarvetta tuplakirjaamiselle [21], kun muistiinpanoja ei tarvitse tehdä erikseen. Vaikka digitalisaatio koetaan myönteisenä mahdollisuutena työssä, teknologia ei juurikaan auta lähihoitajia kehittämään uusia työtapoja [4,11].…”

Electronic medication administration record (eMAR) in Swedish home healthcare—Implications for Nurses' and nurse Assistants' Work environment: A qualitative study

“…One strategy to meet the growing demands for healthcare is the use of eHealth technologies [20], defined as health services and information delivered or enhanced through the internet and related technologies [21]. In the Swedish home healthcare sector, there are high expectations of implementation of eHealth systems that digitise the work of nurses and NAs [22]. eMAR is an eHealth system that has replaced the traditional paper-based medicine administration sheets in healthcare settings in many countries [23][24][25].…”