ICT in nursing in Dutch hospitals.

VIZI and its successor NICTIZ (National ICT Institute for Healthcare) carried out a study to assess the status of ICT use in hospitals. The statutory obligation for the retention of care records and instructions was highlighted by the professional nursing institutions. Literature was studied to find out more about the contribution of nursing records to the care provided. Nursing records are kept in all hospitals, and keeping a good record is essential to the care. Nevertheless not much evidence was found to support the idea that the traditional way of keeping of keeping a nursing record has substantial positive effect on the care provided. It became clear however that Clinical Pathways does indeed seem to be promising as a protocol for treating patients and putting demands on registration, and to provide a clear method by which the electronic nursing record could be built up as a part of the integrated electronic patient record. By means of two questionnaires, one applied to suppliers and one applied to hospitals, the status of ICT in hospitals was addressed. It transpired that several suppliers are active in this area, but usually with general EPR systems which have little dedicated functionality for nurses. The number of nurses in hospitals who are using computers on a regular basis is on the increase. It also transpired that most of the functions that are being used by nurses are general functions such as recording demographic patient data, roster planning, etc. Finally we asked the hospitals to send us information about their own projects. Some 20 projects where submitted, 10 of which were regarded as being significant. The best application was rewarded with a prize.