提升護理競爭力——淺談數位落差

Promoting Nursing Competitiveness: Introduction to the Digital Divide

由於資訊科技的蓬勃發展，使人們在接近或使用資訊的機會上產生差異，形成數位落差現象；數位落差的問題存在全球各個國家、社會及個人間，且受種族、性別、年齡、教育、經濟以及居住區域等因素影響，數位落差會隨著時代的演進與新科技的發明而被賦予新的定義，其內涵包含了資訊近用、資訊應用與資訊素養等方面。由於愈來愈多資訊科技應用於醫療產業當中因而形成數位落差現象，護理人員在面對數位落差所需準備的因應之道除了學校正規教育應加強學生資訊能力外，本身自學也不可或缺，而職場上在職教育訓練課程也應考慮加入資訊相關課程，如醫院護理資訊系統之使用、認識資訊安全、文書處理技巧或如何善用網際網路等，以增強護理人員之資訊能力並提升其競爭力。

Increasingly sophisticated information technology (IT) has widened the gap (the so-called “digital divide”) between those with effective access to IT resources and those without. Problems related to the digital divide exist in every country. In addition to level of familiarity with technology, the divide can also be influenced by factors of race, gender, age, education, economic status and area of residence. The digital divide may be ameliorated through technology innovations in terms of access to information, information application and information literacy. As IT is an increasingly significant component of modern healthcare, it may be expected that the “width” of the potential gap widens as IT applications increase in sophistication. Nursing professionals must keep abreast of advancing technologies in order to narrow the digital divide. To cope with this challenge, nursing professionals should enhance their understanding of new technologies beyond what is taught in formal education curricula. This knowledge enhancement may be attained through self learning or on-the-job training in nursing informatics. Content could cover hospital information system (IS) usage, security, applications and web access. This will improve the ability of nursing staff to face the current IT challenge.