Nursing students’ perspectives on being work-ready with electronic medical records: Intersections of rurality and health workforce capacity

Abstract

Aim

To explore nursing students’ views on being prepared for using electronic medical records during clinical placement.

Background

The need for an undergraduate nursing curriculum to include electronic medical record training has been internationally recognised, however successful implementation has been inconsistent worldwide and limited in Australia. Many nursing students are unprepared to effectively provide care during clinical placement using electronic medical records and are therefore not work-ready as registered nurses.

Design

Online survey.

Methods

Third-year nursing students from two multi-campus universities were invited to complete the survey.

Results

Most students believed that learning electronic medical records during simulations would be extremely or very useful. Student confidence levels correlate with the amount and type of exposure to electronic medical records prior to clinical placement. Four themes emerged from qualitative analysis: Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater; Prepare us for practice; Mistakes – hardly any; and Universities need to catch up and put out.

Conclusion

Students receiving hospital-based education on eMR and eObs can improve student confidence in preparation for clinical practice. First-year optional eMR university education had a limited impact on students' perception of preparedness for clinical practice. Shared responsibility between both the universities and health services on eMR education would provide improved student confidence and preparedness for clinical practice. This study supports the international research that eMR education needs to be scaffolded over the three years of study with increasing complexity of real-life scenarios.