Nurses Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Utilizing Nursing Informatics in Public Hospitals

Background and Objectives: The health care systems around the world have a significant rise in the use of electronic health records as an essential tool for improving the safety, quality, efficiency and effectiveness of health care. Thus, this study aims to assess nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding using nursing informatics in public hospitals. Methods: A descriptive correlational study design was conducted among 89 nurses at Azadi, Hivee, and Emergency teaching hospital in Duhok City. The data were collected using survey questionnaire that consist of 68 items and the data were analysed using SPSS Version 25. Descriptive statistics used to explore nurses’, knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to nursing informatics. While, T-test and Person correlation were used to assess the relationship between those variables. Results: The findings show that the majority of nurses (97.1%) have poor knowledge. Most nurses (74.3%) show positive attitude. Whereas, (78.6%) show poor practice. The majority were male with a specialized nurse. where their mean ages 33.44 ±6.639 ranged between 25-45 years. Furthermore, (81.4%) of them have > 7 years of working experiences. Moreover, the result shows there’s a strong positive correlation between knowledge and practice, (r = 0.532, p < 0.01). Also, the outcome shows there’s a very weak negative correlation between knowledge and attitude (r = -0.054, p = 0.657). likewise, the finding shows there’s a weak positive correlation between attitude and practice (r = 0.121, p = 0.317). Conclusion: The study outcomes highlighted that the nurses have strong awareness and positive attitudes toward nursing informatics, recognizing its benefits in documentation, decision-making, and care quality. Most of them demonstrate poor knowledge and practice, highlighting the need for targeted education and training. Also, nurses are highly supportive of and adaptable to NI system changes, with adequate access to resources, technical support, and a computer-friendly environment.