Impact of electronic health records on nurses' information seeking and discriminating skills for critical thinking

In February 2009, the United States government passed into law the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) providing incentive money for hospitals and care providers to implement a certified electronic health record (EHR) in order to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. The electronic health record is an information system used by many clinicians including physicians, pharmacists, and nurses in the healthcare industry as a tool to support the goals of delivering high quality, safe and efficient patient care. Nurses make up the largest group of practicing clinicians in the healthcare industry making the use of EHR technology to support their ability to use critical thinking skills imperative. This quantitative study proposed the use of a modified version of the task-technology fit (TTF) survey instrument to gain more insight regarding whether or not the EHR has any impact on nurses' ability to perform information seeking and discriminating which are 2 components of critical thinking. The modified TTF survey of nurses using an EHR in a hospital setting was used to measure the 2 components as they related to the 12 TTF domains and to validate the modified instrument. The results indicated which TTF domain variables loaded on the 2 critical thinking skill factors and validated the modified TTF survey instrument. This study contributes new knowledge with regards to what factors should be assessed in order for executive leadership in healthcare organizations to ensure support for 2 critical thinking skills in nurses who utilize the EHR, which in turn leads to improved quality, safe, and efficient patient care.