Compassionate Nursing Care and Digital Health Technologies: Key Findings

Background

  • Compassion is a core value in nursing practice essential for quality patient-centered care.
  • Limited understanding of how nurses express and preserve compassion within digital health environments.

Purpose

  • Explore literature focusing on how nurses provide compassionate care using digital health technologies.
  • Identify best practices to enhance nursing education and practice regarding compassionate care in digital settings.

Methodology

  • Conducted a scoping review addressing the research question: How is compassionate care related to digital health technologies in nursing literature?
  • Reviewed databases: CINAHL Plus, Ovid Medline, Ovid HealthStar, Embase, APSychINFO, Scopus, ProQuest.
  • Two reviewers assessed article eligibility, leading to the inclusion of 28 studies primarily published between 2004-2020, mostly using qualitative methods.
  • Findings organized into three themes:
    1. Evolving understanding of compassionate nursing care in relation to the use of digital health technology.
    2. Compassionate nursing care regarding the type of digital health technology employed.
    3. Strategies to enhance education and competence in digital health and compassionate nursing care.

Key Findings

Theme 1: Evolving Understanding of Compassionate Care

  • Limited explicit references to "compassionate care" concerning digital health technologies.
  • Key values associated with compassionate care identified include presence, competence, and trust.
  • Compassion encompasses actions taken to alleviate suffering, differentiating it from empathy and sympathy.

Theme 2: Compassionate Nursing Care and Digital Health Technology

  • Nearly half of the studies focused on electronic health records and their impact on compassionate care.
  • The remaining studies addressed telehealth, telecommunication tools, and mobile devices.
  • Various factors affecting the relationship between technology and compassionate care include:
    • Accessibility of technology
    • Quality of the technology
    • Facilitative vs. barrier effects on patient care.

Theme 3: Strategies for Improvement

  • Continuous education on digital health technology is crucial for nursing practice.
  • Suggestions for nurse training include:
    1. Effective use of digital tools while maintaining patient engagement.
    2. Enhancing interpersonal communication in a digital context.
    3. Understanding the implications of non-verbal communication within telehealth.
  • Specific training programs and workshops recommended to optimize compassionate care within digital environments.

Conclusions

  • There is a need for comprehensive definitions of compassionate nursing care in the context of digital health tools.
  • Recommendations include integrating compassionate care competencies into nursing informatics requirements and continuing nursing education.