What do nurses think about telenursing? A descriptive Italian study

Introduction: Telenursing is a new nursing approach to improve continuity, quality and safety of care and patient outcomes. This study aims to describe the viewpoint of Italian nurses on their knowledge, attitudes, and barriers to telenursing. Materials and methods: This descriptive study following the STROBE guidelines was conducted in August 2022 through a web survey. A non-validated questionnaire and convenience snowball sampling were used. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Results: 323 nurses were included in the study. 75% of nurses were female, prevalently employed in hospitals (81%). Digital devices were present in 76% of healthcare facilities, but 82% of the sample had never carried out telenursing interventions. The academic training of 75% of nurses does not include telenursing education, and 93% of the sample would be interested in training on the topic, considering their previous knowledge insufficient (54%). Surveyed nurses believe telenursing could improve communication in the care team, patient safety (70%), and quality of care (45%). In nurses' opinion, patients' main barriers would be low digital literacy, use complexity and lack of resources. In addition to sharing the same barriers as patients, nurses need more skilled and exclusively assigned staff and better interconnection between the resources used. Conclusion: In Italian nurses’ opinion, telenursing should improve the quality and safety of care and team communication. The main barriers described by the present study (lack of knowledge, resources, integration, and complexity of the tools used) suggest the need for multi-level interventions and studies to increase its use between nurses and patients.