JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digitalization and information and communication technology (ICT) promote effective and efficient care for individuals and communities. Previous research has primarily focused on hospital or clinic-based individual care. Due to most public health nursing practices being based on tacit knowledge among public health nurses and having yet to be standardized, little work has been done on the function of ICT in public health nursing.

Objective:

The protocol of this study aims to develop and validate an electronic recording and management system for the evaluation of the necessity of different public health nursing practices, including individual care, community-based activities, and project development, and for the according determination of their best practices.

Methods:

This study used an exploratory sequential design. Set in Japan, this study consists of two phases. Phase 1 comprises a panel discussion to develop the system’s structure and content with supervisory public health nurses in local governments. Phase 2 comprises interviews and a nationwide questionnaire survey distributed to supervisory and mid-career public health nurses across local governments.

Results:

Data collection will be completed in January 2023.

Conclusions:

This study will reveal public health nurses’ tacit knowledge about their practices and assess the necessity of different approaches. Additionally, this study will promote evidence, information, and communication technology-based practices in public health nursing. The system will enable public health nurses to record their daily activities and share them with their supervisors to improve their performance, community care, and health equity. Furthermore, supervisory public health nurses can use the findings of this study to create benchmarks for the performance of each staff and their department. Clinical Trial: UMIN000049411.