Digital technologies and the role of healthcare professionals: a scoping review exploring nurses’ skills in the digital era and in light of the Covid-19 pandemic (Preprint)
Authors: Isidori Valentina , Diamanti Francesco , Gios Lorenzo , Malfatti Giulia , Nicolini Andrea , Perini Francesca , Forti Stefano , Gaudino Alessandro , Brancorsini Stefano , Bizzarri Giancarlo , Fraschini Federica , Longhini Jessica 
Published: March 2022

BACKGROUND

The nursing role significantly changed following reforms in the nurses training process, which
now requires a three-year university degree. Nowadays, nurses are increasingly trained to
promote and improve the quality of clinical practice and to provide support in the assistance of
patients and communities. At the same time, they are facing the introduction of new disruptive
technologies in public health, which require the healthcare staff to develop new digital skills.
The adaptation to new care processes and the acquisition of new digital skills was inevitably
accelerated by the Covid19 pandemic, which has highlighted, at least in the Italian scenario,
some critical aspects of the current healthcare asset, such as the lack of human and
technological resources and the need to rethink the management of spaces and work-shifts for
outpatient visits.

OBJECTIVE

Aim of this paper is reviewing and defining the role of nurses and the skills they are asked to
master in terms of new methodological approaches and digital knowledge, in a continuously
evolving healthcare scenario which relies more and more on technology and digital solutions.

METHODS

This review was conducted using thematic summary of previous studies. Authors have collected
publications through international electronic databases (PubMed, JMIR and Elsevier) related to
new telemedicine approaches impacting on nurses’ role, considering the time span 2011 –
2021.

RESULTS

The assessment was completed between April and July 2021. After a critical appraisal, authors
reviewed a selection of 60 studies. Articles were divided into 3 tables, based on the database of
reference. The results obtained were organized into five emerging macro areas: 1) leadership:
nurses are expected to show leadership capabilities when introducing new technologies in

healthcare practices considering their pivotal role in coordinating various professional figures
and the patient; 2) soft skills: new communication skills, adaptiveness and problem-solving are
needed to adapt the interaction to the level of digital skills and digital knowledge of the patient;
3) training: specific subjects need to be added to nursing training to boost the adoption of new
communication and technological skills, enabling healthcare professionals to largely and
effectively use new digital tools; 4) remote management of Covid-19 or chronic patients during
the pandemic: a role that has proved to be fundamental is the community and family nurse.
Healthcare systems are adopting novel assistance models to support patients at home and to
enable decentralization of services from hospitals to the territory; 5) management of
interpersonal relationships with patients through Telemedicine: a person-centered approach
with an open and sensitive attitude seems to be even more important in the framework of
telemedicine where a face-to-face session is not possible and therefore non-verbal indicators
are more problematic to be noticed.

CONCLUSIONS

Further advancing nurses’ readiness in adopting telemedicine requires an integrated approach,
including combinations technical knowledge, novel management and communication skills, for
which the current review provides a wide-ranging and general – albeit valuable – starting point.

CLINICALTRIAL

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