Newly Qualified Canadian Nurses'Experiences With Digital Healthin the Workplace:Comparative Qualitative Analysis

Background: Clinical practice settings have increasingly become dependent on the use of digital or eHealth technologies suchas electronic health records. It is vitally important to support nurses in adapting to digitalized health care systems; however, littleis known about nursing graduates'experiences as they transition to the workplace.Objective: This study aims to (1) describe newly qualified nurses'experiences with digital health in the workplace, and (2)identify strategies that could help support new graduates'transition and practice with digital health.Methods: An exploratory descriptive qualitative design was used. A total of 14 nurses from Eastern and Western Canadaparticipated in semistructured interviews and data were analyzed using inductive content analysis.Results: Three themes were identified: (1) experiences before becoming a registered nurse, (2) experiences upon joining theworkplace, and (3) suggestions for bridging the gap in transition to digital health practice. Findings revealed more similaritiesthan differences between participants with respect to gaps in digital health education, technology-related challenges, and theirinfluence on nursing practice.Conclusions: Digital health is the foundation of contemporary health care; therefore, comprehensive education during nursingschool and throughout professional nursing practice, as well as organizational support and policy, are critical pillars. Healthsystems investing in digital health technologies must create supportive work environments for nurses to thrive in technologicallyrich environments and increase their capacity to deliver the digital health future