The Relationship Between Perceived Digital Skills and Team Effectiveness Among Nurses in Saudi Governmental Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Introduction: In Saudi Arabia, the Vision 2030 has charged e-health efforts in an attempt to enhance service quality, efficiency, and access. To date, there is little empirical evidence on the positive outcomes of digital application skills on nurses' teamwork.

Purpose: This study sought to explore the association between nurses' perceived digital skills and their perception of nursing team effectiveness in Saudi hospitals.

Methods: A quantitative descriptive-correlational cross-sectional design was employed. Data were collected from registered nurses at Prince Mutaib bin Abdulaziz Hospital and Dumat Al-Jandal Hospital using the Nursing Digital Application Skills Scale (NDASS; Qin et al., 2024) and the Team Effectiveness Scale for Nursing Units (TES-NU; Kim et al., 2024). Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS.

Results: Of 300 nurses invited, 210 completed usable surveys (response rate = 70%). Nurses reported moderate-to-high perceived digital skills and team effectiveness perceptions. There was a moderate positive correlation between digital skills and team effectiveness among nurses (r = 0.50, p < .001). Multiple linear regression identified digital skills as significantly associated with team effectiveness perceptions (B = 0.402, t = 7.868, p < .001).

Conclusion: Nurses' perceived digital skills are significantly associated with their perceptions of nursing team effectiveness. These findings suggest targeted digital skills enhancement may be associated with improved nursing teamwork perceptions, informing workforce development strategies aligned with Saudi Vision 2030 healthcare transformation goals.