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Use of a Home-Care Computer Network by Persons With AIDS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Patricia Flatley Brennan  and
Stefan Ripich
Patricia Flatley Brennan
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University
Stefan Ripich
Affiliation:
Palo Alto Veterans Administration
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Abstract

Computer networks serve as convenient, efficient, and enduring vehicles for delivering nursing services to patients at home. The ComputerLink, a specialized computer network, provided nurse-supervised information, decision support, and communication services to home-dwelling persons living with AIDS (PWAs). During a 26-week randomized field experiment, 26 PWAs accessed the ComputerLink on more than 8,664 occasions. The communications area was used most often; the public communication area functioned like a support group. Multiple behavioral measures of use provide a rich picture of how these PWAs, none of whom had had prior computer experience, adopted and adapted to this innovative nursing care delivery system. Meeting the needs of a rapidly growing and diverse population of home-care clients demands that nurses make effective use of existing technologies such as cable television and telephone triage systems. Computer networks combine the best features of cable television and telephone systems—broadcast distribution and interaction; therefore, computer networks represent an ideal technology for the delivery of certain nursing services to the home.

Type
Special Section: Assessing Nursing and Technology
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , Spring 1994 , pp. 258 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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