Nursing Performance and Smartphone Use in Clinical Settings.

Objectives: The present study was conducted to examine the relationship between smartphone dependency and its effect on clinical tasks of nurses in educational and medical centers of Hamadan, in western Iran.

Method: In this cross-sectional study, 248 nurses were selected via the proportional allocation sampling method. The required data were collected using a self-report, reliable and validated questionnaire, covering patterns of smartphone use, smartphone dependency, effects of smartphone dependency, and influence of smartphone on the clinical performance of nurses. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis.

Results: The average age of the participants was 30.43 (± 5.68) years. The average smartphone dependency, effects of smartphone dependency, and clinical performance of the examined nurses were, respectively, 38.65 (20.93), 20.78 (13.90), and 29.48 (10.03). Clinical performance of nurses decreased with age (P = 0.02) and increase of smartphone dependency (P = 0.02), effects of smartphone dependency (P ≤ 0.001), and smartphone use while working (P ≤ 0.001). Higher work experience (P = 0.02) and the application of smartphone multiple capabilities (P = 0.02) had positive effects on the clinical performance of the examined nurses.

Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that using smartphones affects the clinical performance of nurses, and if not well managed, it can lead to some physical, psychological, and social problems for the individual nurse, patients, and society. Thus, training nurses and developing regulations for the use of smartphones in the workplace must be considered by the relevant authorities.