Technostress as a Bridge Between Information and Communication Technology Demands and Emotional Labor: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Egyptian Nurses.

BACKGROUND

Healthcare organizations increasingly adopt digital technologies to improve care delivery and meet evolving system demands. However, nurses are experiencing new types of stress and emotional strain as a result of the increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) in clinical practice. This study fills a significant knowledge gap about how technostress affects the connection between ICT demands and nurses' emotional labor in healthcare systems that are undergoing digital transformation.

AIM

To investigate how nurses' emotional labor is affected by ICT demands, with an emphasis on the mediating function of technostress.

METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed. A selective sample of nurses employed by a major general hospital in Egypt provided the data. Technostress, emotional labor, and ICT demands were evaluated using structured tools. In order to investigate both direct and indirect correlations between variables, analytical approaches included structural modeling.

RESULTS

The results show that nurses experience high degrees of technostress, emotional labor, and moderate ICT demands. The findings support the idea that psychological strain shapes nurses' experiences in digital healthcare environments by showing that technostress partially mediates the association between ICT demands and emotional labor.

IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICY

Strategies to manage the unforeseen effects of the healthcare industry's digital transition must be given top priority by policymakers. This entails creating frameworks for monitoring technostress, incorporating psychological support into plans for ICT adoption, and making sure nurses are included in decisions about digital policy and design.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY

Monitoring and lowering technostress through resilience training, digital literacy, and user-friendly technologies should be a top priority for nursing policy. The development and application of healthcare technology must involve nurses.