Nurses’ use of computer databases to identify evidence for practice —a cross‐sectional questionnaire survey in a UK hospital

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine nurses’ use of electronic databases to inform practice. A questionnaire survey of 114 nurses working on five acute wards in a large inner city teaching hospital investigated their general use of computers and the three databases, cinahl, medline and the Cochrane Library. Eighty‐two qualified nurses responded (response rate 72%). The results show limited confidence and low frequency in using the databases. Thirty‐four per cent expressed low confidence using cinahl. Twenty‐seven per cent used cinahl on a regular basis. Twenty‐two per cent never used it. Eighteen per cent were unaware that it was available locally. Knowledge and use of medline was even lower with only 18% using it regularly. Knowledge of the Cochrane Library was extremely limited, with 75% unaware of its existence. Use of a home computer and higher education were associated with higher frequency of use of cinahl and medline. If nurses are to make use of electronic resources to contribute to evidence‐based practice, effort needs to be put into ensuring that already qualified nurses have basic computer skills and specific knowledge of available resources. More emphasis should be placed on ‘evidence‐based’ resources, such as the Cochrane library, as sources of information for practice.