The Importance of Patients' Perceptions of Technology: Reminders for Nursing Care Delivery

BACKGROUND: This study investigates hospitalized patients' perceptions of nurses' use of technology in care delivery and provides an overview of the professional debate regarding high-touch versus high-technology nursing practice. METHOD: A mixed-methods qualitative study combined concepts from phenomenology and narrative analysis to allow the nurse researcher to engage with the patient to solicit patient stories. This approach acknowledges the researcher's role as a nurse, which cannot be fully eliminated from the patient stories and analysis of their experiences. The combined methodology also focuses on a phenomenological approach that uses a semistructured interview as a mechanism to gather data specific to questions about the patients' perspective of the influence of technology on patient care. RESULTS: Five main themes were identified from patient interviews: Noise/Lack of Sleep, Emotional/Patient Engagement, Individualized Care, Patient and Nurse Knowledge Levels (related to technology), and the Benefits/Challenges of Care (related to technology). CONCLUSION: Nurses are missing opportunities to improve their practice and the quality of patient care when using technology as an adjunct to care delivery. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2019;50(6):263-267.].