Exploring Risk-Benefit Factors of Electronic Clinical Pathways Regarding Nursing Communication

摘要

This study explores the influence of electronic clinical pathways (ECPs) on nurses' daily activities, especially nursing communication, in a university hospital. Although an electronic clinical pathway enables medical-treatment processes to be standardized by interacting with different occupations, few studies have been conducted from the managerial perspective. We interviewed a doctor in the Department of Medical Information Systems and eight nurses who make entries and use ECPs. The results of the interview indicated that some nurses learned about the medical processes using electronic clinical pathways. The results also showed that the assessment abilities for patient care could decline, if the nurses failed to incorporate the electronic clinical pathways into their daily routines.