ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF mHEALTH APPLICATIONS AMONG NURSES

Abstract

Background: mHealth (or mobile health) is the provision of health services through mobile technologies. The key applications of mHealth in developing countries are education and awareness, remote data collection, remote monitoring, communication and training for healthcare workers, disease and epidemic outbreak tracking and diagnostic and treatment support1 . Aim and objectives: 1.To assess the knowledge and perception of mhealth applications among nurses. 2.To correlate knowledge and perception of mhealth applications among nurses. 3. To associate the demographic variables with knowledge and perception of mhealth applications among nurses. Methodology: A Quantitative-evaluative study was conducted among 50 nurses at selected settings in Chennai. A non-probability convenient sampling technique was used. Data was collected online using a self-reported questionnaire, through a Google form. A survey link was sent to the respondents, via email and WhatsApp groups. Result: The findings indicated that 48% of nurses had poor knowledge and 44% had a low perception of mHealth. The correlation coefficient value, r = 0.435, revealed that there was a positive correlation between knowledge and perception at a p<0.01 level of significance. There was no statistically significant association of knowledge and perception with demographic variables. Conclusion: mHealth is now used in the nursing field to reduce the time nurses spend on other tasks, such as writing reports or making medication rounds. There are a lot of positive outcomes from using mHealth. Keywords: knowledge, mHealth (mobile health), nurses, perception