Purpose and scope
The purpose of this BPG is to foster nurses’ ability to maintain, advance, and strengthen professional practice in the context of a digital health environment. Broadly, this guideline includes information related to:
- the skills and competencies required by clinical nurses to ensure safe, quality, person-centred and compassionate clinical care through therapeutic relationships in a digital health environment;
- the skills and competencies required by nurses to engage in the design, development and evaluation of digital health environments;
- the skills and competencies required by nurse leaders and other leaders in all domains of clinical care, administration, education, research, and policy to support the intersection between nursing practice and technology; and
- the organizational policies and procedures required to support and enable nurses within health systems to effectively influence, implement and utilize digital health technologies.
This BPG is to be used by nurses and members of the interprofessional team across the continuum of care (e.g., home and community care, primary care, acute care, rehabilitation, and LTC) in all domains of practice (e.g., clinical, administration, education, research, and policy). It is also to be used by organizations that employ nurses and members of the interprofessional team, including health service organizations and academic institutions.
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Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). Clinical practice in a digital health environment. Toronto (ON): RNAO; 2024.
Recommendations
Do you want to learn about and implement the most- up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on this topic with your colleagues? Download and share the full best practice guideline (BPG), Clinical Practice in a Digital Health Environment.
See below for a snapshot of the recommendations from this BPG. We strongly suggest you review the full BPG before implementing the recommendations and good practice statements. The BPG also includes further resources to support implementation and evaluation.
Good Practice Statement 1.0: It is good practice that nurses and health providers complete an initial and ongoing assessment to determine accessibility, motivation, knowledge and preferences of persons and families, including the suitability of the digital health technologies being used in their care.
Good Practice Statement 2.0: It is good practice that nurses and health providers provide education to persons and families related to the digital health technologies being used to deliver their care.
Good Practice Statement 3.0: It is good practice that nurses and health providers be actively involved and engaged in the procurement, adaptation, adoption and implementation of digital health technologies when used in clinical practice.
Good Practice Statement 4.0: It is good practice that organizations provide nurses and health providers with protected time for education related to the digital health technologies being used to deliver care.
Recommendation 1.0: The expert panel suggests that health-service and academic organizations provide ongoing education to nurses and health providers that includes hands-on training for the use of digital health technologies.
Recommendation 2.0: The expert panel suggests that health-service and academic organizations provide ongoing education to nurses and health providers that focuses on interpersonal communication skills when using digital health technologies.
Recommendation 3.0: The expert panel suggests that health service organizations implement interdisciplinary peer champion models to facilitate education for nurses and health providers on the use of digital health technologies.
Good Practice Statement 5.0: It is good practice that organizations implement policies related to digital health technologies to protect privacy, security and confidentiality.
Good Practice Statement 6.0: It is good practice that regulatory bodies embed digital health competencies into nursing and health provider entry-to-practice exams.
Recommendation 4.0: The expert panel suggests that health service organizations implement clinical decision support systems (CDSS) or early warning systems that use artificial intelligence-driven predictive analytics to support nurses’ and health providers’ clinical decision-making.
Disclaimer: These guidelines are not binding for nurses, other health providers or the organizations that employ them. The use of these guidelines should be flexible and based on individual needs and local circumstances. They constitute neither a liability nor discharge from liability. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) gives any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them or accepts any liability with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omission in the contents of this work.
