Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
182
www.hsj.gr
183
www.hsj.gr
Results
A total of 325 students enrolled in the
semester, and 310 completed the survey,
giving a response rate of 95.3%. Among them
67.7 % (210 students) were female and 32.3
% (100 students) were male. The large
majority of students (90 %) were below 25
years of age. More specific, 45.8 % (142
students) were below 20 years old, 44.2%
(137 students) were between 20 and 25, 26
to 30 were 3.9% (12 students), 3.2% (10
students) were between 31 and 35, 2.6% (8
students) were between 36-40 and one
student was over 40 years old and 27.7% (86
students) were employed. Half of them had a
PC of their own, but internet access was
limited to 30 % (Table 1).
Do you have a PC
173
55.8
137
44.2
Yes
58
39
12.6
37
11.9
Do you use
catalogue?
online
41
13.2
95
30.6
the
a CD
Does
your
PC
microphones/speakers
have
172
55.5
235
75.8
217
70.0
220
71.0
173
55.8
230
74.2
204
65.8
165
53.2
100
32.3
128
41.3
179
57.7
223
71.9
18.7
File management
168
157
54.2
50.6
128
41.3
151
48.7
184
www.hsj.gr
WWW.HSJ.GR
Beginner
Efficient
Good
126
173
25th
Beginner
Efficient
50th
Efficient
Good
75th
Good
Good
0.000
Table 4. Frequency of the main obstacles to using the internet by the students
N
26
8.4
28
9.0
21
6.8
55
17.7
39
12.6
36
11.6
43
13.9
35
11.3
50
16.1
23
7.4
106
34.2
No pc at home
107
34.5
Other reasons
2.9
No barriers
1.0
Table 5. Differences in Institutional account acquisition and in library use depending on students study
semester
Use of
the available through the
Institutions electronic journals
Total
Yes
Third semester or
above
44
20
64
0.007
121
121
242
Total
165
141
306
Yes
29
37
58
42
100
Total
87
50
137
0.028
185
Discussion
New information relevant to nursing
practice doubles every 5 years, indicating a
rapid surge in nursing research. Nevertheless
the percentage of nursing staff that use data
generated by research is rather small, 7 and,
even in developed countries, there is a slow
emergence of nursing informatics in nursing
curricula.8
During the past two decades the
computer training has been integrated into
the curriculum of many upper secondary
schools in Greece.9 However, the findings of
this study suggest that IT competencies of
nursing students are far behind of flexible
learning requirements. Computer is at best
seen as an advanced model of typewriter.
Students seemed more skilful in wordprocessing than in communicating with
others via e-mail, especially when messages
have to be attached. While over 50 % knew
how to send mails, only one out of three
students knew how to attach files to mails.
Despite the fact that these percentages are
far
behind
those
found
in
other
technologically advanced countries, this
difference is a common finding, indicating
that familiarity itself is not adequate.4,10, 11
Flexible learning demands more skillfulness.4
Moreover, it was found that only half of
them reported that they knew how to search
the literature. Lack of specific knowledge is
prominent, as a disparity is revealed
between 70 % who answered they know to
use search engines and 57 % who report they
know how to find references in the web. It is
not surprising that library usage was at low
levels. Even though 44 % reported they use
the Institutions library services, less than 15
% use the on line catalogue or the electronic
journals. Overall the Institutions library
services were underutilized by nursing
students, since 55% of the students did not
use the library. Students hardly assess their
computer knowledge as intermediary. This
finding is reported in other studies as well.
According to the study of Griffiths &
Ridington, nurses showed limited confidence
and low frequency in using the databases.12
186
www.hsj.gr
Bibliography
1. Joch A. IT at a crossroads. H & HN/ AHA.
2008; 82(2): 45-6.
2. Ragneskog H, Gerdner L. Competence in
nursing informatics among nursing
students and staff at a nursing institute
in Sweden. Health Info Libr J.
2006;23(2):126-32.
3. Alexander B. Going Nomadic: Mobile
Learning in Higher Education. EDUCAUSE
Review. 2004; 39 (5): 2835.
4. Honey
M.
Flexible
learning
for
postgraduate nurses: a basis for planning.
Nurse Educ Today. 2004;24(4):319-325.
5. Clifford P, Goldschmidt K, O'Connor T.
Staff nurses writing for their peers:
development of self-learning modules. J
Nurs Staff Dev. 2007;23(6): 283-8.
6. LoBiondo Wood G, Haber J. Nursing
Research: Method, Critical Appraisal for
Evidence-Based Practice.6th Ed. St.
Louis: Mosby-Year Book, Missouri, 2005.
187
www.hsj.gr
188
www.hsj.gr