Examining nurses' awareness level and compliance between defined and required access levels to core functionalities of hospital information system : an observational and survey study

Nurses constitute the largest number of hospital information system (HIS) users. Therefore, their awareness level and access to HIS functions based on their needs are particularly important. The present study aims to determine nurses' access levels to HIS functions and examine the compliance between defined and required access levels to core functionalities of a comprehensive HIS. This observational and survey study was conducted on nurses using the census method (n = 110) in two phases. In the first phase, nurses' current access levels to core functionalities of the hospitalization management subsystem were identified in HIS. In the second phase, nurses' awareness of defined access levels to HIS functions and compliance with their needs were investigated using a valid and reliable questionnaire (α = 0.90). The data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistics (t-test and one-way ANOVA). The hospitalization management subsystem had 57 functions in 6 task groups. The information technology (IT) department enabled nurses to access 35 functions but did not allow them to access 22. 58.0% of the nurses were aware of those 35 functions they had access to, and 35.9% were aware of those 22 functions they needed access to. There was a significant correlation between nurses' awareness of current and defined access levels (p