The
2004-2005 International Telenursing Role Survey
Executive Summary
Background:
Telenursing is defined as “the use of telemedicine technology to deliver nursing care and conduct nursing practice” (Schlachta & Sparks, 1998). Through Telenursing, a nurse can provide monitoring, education, follow-up, remote data collection, remote interventions, pain management, family support, and multidisciplinary care in an innovative fashion. The concept of telenursing has been further advanced via the Nursing Telehealth Applications Initiative (NTAI), a leading edge, multi-year effort conducted by the Henry M Jackson Foundation for Research in Military Medicine and funded by the Office of Naval Research, Grant # N00014-04-1-0516. The major goal of the NTAI is to research and implement new applications in Telenursing and Telehealth Technologies for clinical care and nursing education. This survey was funded in part by the NTAI.
In order to further assess the prevalence of Telenursing a internationally, iTelehealth Inc. was commissioned by the Henry Jackson Foundation to conduct a Telenursing survey. This survey was initiated in the United States, building upon the 2000 U.S. Telenursing Role Study conducted by iTelehealth Inc. The International Council of Nurses in Geneva, Switzerland at the same time had also commissioned iTelehealth Inc. to produce a monograph for International Competencies in Telehealth Nursing. Thus, the survey scope was extended by iTelehealth Inc. to the international telenursing community and included the collection of information regarding international aspects of Telenursing preparation and practice.
Purpose
The 2004 International Telenursing Survey was undertaken to identify:
1) Telenurses’ satisfaction with their current telenursing role
2) Specific telenursing knowledge and skills
3) perceptions about effectiveness of telehealth as a nurse extender
4) demand for telenurses worldwide
5) types of knowledge and skills needed by telenurses.
Method:
A web-based survey was developed and edited by key experts prior to publication. The survey targeted those telenurses who were actively practicing in telenursing at the time of the survey, OR who were working for an organization that supported telehealth/telemedicine (i.e. vendor, public policy, etc.). The survey was hosted online from September 18, 2004 to January 31, 2005. Online invitations were sent internationally to those in key telehealth organizations and key nursing groups as well as individual points of contact. Over 2000 invitations to participate were emailed. Professional organizations that were instrumental in distributing the survey included the Canadian Society for Telehealth (CST- SCT), The International Council of Nurses (ICN), American Nurses Association (ANA), American Telemedicine Association (ATA), Association of Telehealth Service Providers (ATSP), the National Association for Homecare (NAHC), the Capital Area Roundtable on Informatics in Nursing (CARING), the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), the International Medical Informatics Assocation (IMIA), the American Association of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN) and multiple telehealth and informatics listservs.
Findings:
Over 1700 persons accessed the survey online. There were 719 nurses (628 women and 89 men and 2 gender not stated) from 36 countries who completed the survey. Sixty-six percent of the respondents were from the U.S., where 49 of 50 states were represented. Canada had the second largest number of respondents.
Telenurse Survey Participants by Country
| Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid | USA | 489 | 68.0 | 68.0 | 68.0 |
| CANADA | 72 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 78.0 | |
| AUSTRALIA | 35 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 82.9 | |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 29 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 86.9 | |
| NORWAY | 25 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 90.4 | |
| NEW ZEALAND | 8 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 91.5 | |
| SWEDEN | 7 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 92.5 | |
| missing | 6 | .8 | .8 | 93.3 | |
| IRAN | 4 | .6 | .6 | 93.9 | |
| FINLAND | 4 | .6 | .6 | 94.4 | |
| PUERTO RICO | 3 | .4 | .4 | 94.9 | |
| ITALY | 3 | .4 | .4 | 95.3 | |
| NETHERLANDS | 3 | .4 | .4 | 95.7 | |
| HONG KONG | 2 | .3 | .3 | 96.0 | |
| PANAMA | 2 | .3 | .3 | 96.2 | |
| TAIWAN PROVINCE OF CHINA | 2 | .3 | .3 | 96.5 | |
| PHILIPPINES | 2 | .3 | .3 | 96.8 | |
| KOREA REPUBLIC OF | 2 | .3 | .3 | 97.1 | |
| INDIA | 2 | .3 | .3 | 97.4 | |
| ARGENTINA | 2 | .3 | .3 | 97.6 | |
| GREECE | 1 | .1 | .1 | 97.8 | |
| CONGO | 1 | .1 | .1 | 97.9 | |
| KOREA DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE S REPUBLIC OF | 1 | .1 | .1 | 98.1 | |
| CHILE | 1 | .1 | .1 | 98.2 | |
| AFGHANISTAN | 1 | .1 | .1 | 98.3 | |
| IRELAND | 1 | .1 | .1 | 98.5 | |
| LUXEMBOURG | 1 | .1 | .1 | 98.6 | |
| UGANDA | 1 | .1 | .1 | 98.7 | |
| CUBA | 1 | .1 | .1 | 98.9 | |
| GERMANY | 1 | .1 | .1 | 99.0 | |
| ISRAEL | 1 | .1 | .1 | 99.2 | |
| UKRAINE | 1 | .1 | .1 | 99.3 | |
| CROATIA | 1 | .1 | .1 | 99.4 | |
| ARMENIA | 1 | .1 | .1 | 99.6 | |
| SOUTH AFRICA | 1 | .1 | .1 | 99.7 | |
| CHINA | 1 | .1 | .1 | 99.9 | |
| JORDAN | 1 | .1 | .1 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 719 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
The average telenurse is female and 48 years old. She has a 50% chance of working just part-time in telehealth, most often in a hospital setting, with an income of $35,001 to $75,000 per year. The telenurse most likely received on the job training in telehealth to achieve her expertise. This nurse is highly satisfied with telenursing, based on assessments of factors such as autonomy, interaction, professional status, pay, task requirements, and organizational policies. Survey respondents believe that currently the demand for telenurses is moderate, however a sharp increase in the demand is expected within three years.
Year of Birth
Year of birth ranged from 1920 to 1980 (n = 699), with a median of 1955 and a mode of 1954. Age ranged from 22 to 84 with a mean of 48.27 (SD = 8.35). Note the upper age range (84 years old!!), which suggests that nurses may be able to continue to practice via telenursing even after the age whereby they may not be physically able to do “floor” nursing.
The majority of the telenurses surveyed are not certified in telemedicine, telenursing, or nursing informatics. Seventy-five percent of Telenurses believe that certification in telenursing is important, and would be interested in achieving certification. According to these respondents, critical components of a curriculum for a certification program would be proficiency with technical tools, knowledge of standards and protocols, and competence in clinical care delivery. Eighty-nine percent of respondents believe that telenursing should be a part of basic nursing education. Telehealth education should include clinical experiences.
Summary:
The 2004 International Telenursing Role Survey serves as further information for nursing practice to support the emerging role of telenursing. Future growth and development of the telenursing role and education can be measured against the findings of this survey. Notification of venues for further dissemination of findings will be provided to participants. We thank the international nursing and telehealth community for supporting this important survey.
Dr. Loretta Schlachta-Fairchild
RN, PhD, FACHE
President; CEO, iTelehealth Inc.
Frederick, Maryland 21702 U.S.
Email: lschlachta@itelehealthinc.com
Tel: 321-250-8810
www.itelehealthinc.com
Schlachta, L.; Sparks, S. (1998) Definitions of Telenursing, Telepresence.In “Encyclopedia of Nursing Research” Joyce Fitzpatrick, Ed. New York: Springer Publishing, Inc.
Copyright © iTelehealth Inc. & Mount Aloysius College 2005 Reprint only upon Permission Requested
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article represent the opinions of the author and in no way reflect the endorsement or official positions of the Office of Naval Research or the Department of Defense.