Volume 71, November 2023, 101356Author links open overlay panel, , AbstractBackground

Emergency specialist nurses play a vital role in providing high-quality care to patients. This study investigated the innovative behavior and information literacy of emergency specialist nurses and analyzed the influence of information literacy on innovative behavior to promote the latter.

Methods

In total, 484 emergency specialist nurses in Sichuan Province, China, completed the Innovative Behavior and Information Literacy Scales. Univariate analysis, Pearson’s analysis, and multiple linear regression were performed.

Results

The emergency specialist nurses’ innovative behavior and information literacy scores were 32.34 ± 6.27 and 74.32 ± 7.38, respectively. Scores for information awareness, ability, knowledge, and ethics were 3.90 ± 0.53, 2.95 ± 0.45, 3.32 ± 0.19, and 3.28 ± 0.30, respectively. The correlation analysis demonstrated that information literacy positively correlated with innovative behavior. The multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that experience in publishing academic papers influenced innovative behavior.

Conclusions

Emergency specialist nurses demonstrated a moderate level of innovative behavior. Higher information literacy was associated with higher innovative behavior. Therefore, enhancing emergency specialist nurses’ information literacy could stimulate innovative behavior and improve innovation ability. Nursing managers should develop corresponding information literacy training programs according to the characteristics of information literacy and evidence-based practice of emergency specialist nurses to improve their innovation level and quality of specialized nursing services.

Section snippetsBackground

Innovation is an important ability that enables nurses to solve clinical problems [1]. Innovative behavior—the processes by which individuals apply ideas to reality—is an important part of the development of innovation ability [2]. Strengthening nurses’ innovative behavior can effectively improve their service quality, including work efficiency, medical resource utilization rate, professional advancement, economic rewards, and honors [3].

Advances in modern medical information technology;

Study setting and duration

The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) aged over 20 years, (2) voluntarily agreeing to participate in this study, and (3) holding a certificate from the Chinese Nursing Association or a provincial emergency specialist nurse certificate. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) not currently on duty as an emergency specialist nurse and (2) working as a visiting or intern nurse.

The Kendall sample size estimation method [28] was adopted to determine the sample size according to 5–10 times

Innovative behavior and information literacy scores

The scores are shown in Table 1.

Comparison of general information and innovative behavior scores

There were statistically significant differences in the scores of innovative behavior based on sex, education background, professional title, working years, and experience in publishing academic papers (p < 0.05; Table 2).

Correlation between innovative behavior and information literacy

Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed that the innovative behavior of emergency specialist nurses was positively correlated with the total score of information literacy and each dimension (Table 3).

Multivariate analysis of innovative behavior

The variables with statistical significance

Current situation regarding the information literacy of emergency specialist nurses

Information literacy among nurses is a prerequisite for their lifelong learning, which directly restricts the quality of clinical nursing and the development of the nursing profession. From the perspective of global development, cultivating nurses' information competence is imperative [31]. Possible total scores on the Information Literacy Scale range from 20 to 100, with a median of 60. The emergency specialist nurses’ information literacy score of 74.32 ± 7.38 was higher than the scale’s

Limitations

This study has some limitations. First, this study only selected emergency specialist nurses in one province in southwest China using convenience sampling; therefore, the generalizability of the sample is limited. Multi-center, large-scale, and multi-factor studies are required to provide a scientific basis for improving the innovation ability of nurses. Second, this study only conducted a cross-sectional survey; in the future, scholars should explore strategies to improve the innovative

Conclusions

This study investigated the innovative behavior and information literacy of emergency specialist nurses. The results revealed that innovative behavior was at a moderate level. Information literacy was positively correlated with innovative behavior, and experience in publishing academic papers influenced innovative behavior. Nursing managers should pay attention to factors affecting the innovative behavior of emergency specialist nurses, understand and enhance the relationship between nurses’

Ethical statement

The research was approved by the ethics committee of the author’s hospital (ethical approval no. 966) in 2021 and by the head nurses of the emergency departments in the hospitals involved in the study. The work in the study was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The anonymity of participants was guaranteed, and their informed consent was obtained.

Funding

This work was supported by the West China Nursing Discipline Development Special Fund Project, Sichuan University [grant number HXHL21023]. The sponsor had no role in the study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing of the report; and decision to submit the article for publication.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Tao Lin: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Writing – original draft. Yongli Gao: Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Xianqiong Feng: Resources, Software, Visualization, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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