EDUCATI ONAL SOFTW ARE FOR SCHEDULI NG NURSI NG PERSONNEL: ELABORATI ON,
DEVELOPMENT AND APPLI CATI ON THROUGH THE I NTERNET
1Car m en Mar ia Casquel Mont i Juliani1 Paulina Kur cgant2
Juliani CMCM, Kur cgant P. Educat ional soft war e for scheduling nur sing per sonnel: elaborat ion, developm ent and applicat ion t hrough t he int ernet . Rev Lat ino- am Enferm agem 2007 j ulho- agost o; 15( 4) : 639- 44.
This st udy aim ed t o describe t he developm ent st ages of soft ware about Nursing St aff Scale, creat ed t o
support t eaching of t he subj ect , as well as t o serve as a consult at ion inst rum ent for professional nurses, since
it j oins labor legislat ion, t est im onies and sim ulat ion. The adopt ed m et hodology consist ed of t he planning and
developm ent al phases, w it h var ious st ages and pr ofessionals, as det ailed in t he ar t icle. Alt hough t he need for
cont inuous updat ing of t he syst em is r ecognized, t he availabilit y of a r esour ce t hat is easily accessed t hr ough
t he w or ld w ide w eb is consider ed an adv ance in t eaching and in nur ses’ m anagem ent pr act ice.
DESCRI PTORS: educat ional t echnology ; soft w ar e; nur sing; hum an r esour ces
SOFTW ARE EDUCATI VO SOBRE ESCALA DE PERSONAL DE ENFERMERÍ A, ELABORACI ÓN,
DESARROLLO Y APLI CACI ÓN A TRAVÉS DE LA RED
El propósit o de est e est udio fue describir las et apas de desarrollo de un software sobre el t em a Escala
de Per sonal de Enfer m er ía, cr eado par a subsidiar la enseñanza del t em a, bien com o ser v ir de inst r um ent o de
consult a a los pr ofesionales enfer m er os, y a que r eúne, ent r e ot r os t ópicos, la legislación labor al, t est im onios
y sim ulación. La m et odología ut ilizada se const it uy ó de las fases de planeam ient o y desar r ollo, que inv olucr ó
varias et apas y profesionales, conform e det allado en el art ículo. Aunque se reconoce la necesidad de act ualización
perm anent e del sist em a, se considera un avance, en la enseñanza y en la práct ica gerencial de los enferm eros,
poder cont ar con un r ecur so al cual se puede acceder fácilm ent e en la am plia r ed m undial de com put ador as.
DESCRI PTORES: t ecn ología edu cacion al; pr ogr am as de com pu t ación ; en fer m er ía; r ecu r sos h u m an os
SOFTW ARE EDUCACI ONAL SOBRE ESCALA DE PESSOAL DE ENFERMAGEM:
ELABORAÇÃO, DESENVOLVI MENTO E APLI CAÇÃO VI A I NTERNET
O pr opósit o dest e est udo foi descr ev er as et apas de desenv olv im ent o de um soft w ar e sobr e o t em a
Escala de Pessoal de Enferm agem , criado para subsidiar o ensino do t em a, bem com o servir de inst rum ent o de
con su lt a aos pr of ission ais en f er m eir os, u m a v ez qu e r eú n e, den t r e ou t r os t ópicos, a legislação t r abalh ist a,
depoim ent os e sim ulação. A m et odologia ut ilizada const it uiu- se das fases de planej am ent o e desenvolvim ent o,
sen d o q u e essa ú lt im a en v olv eu v ár ias et ap as e p r of ission ais, con f or m e d et alh ad o n o ar t ig o. Em b or a se
r econ h eça a n ecessidade de at u alização per m an en t e do sist em a, con sider a- se u m av an ço, n o en sin o e n a
pr át ica ger encial dos enfer m eir os, poder cont ar com um r ecur so que pode ser facilm ent e acessado na am pla
r ede m undial de com put ador es.
DESCRI TORES: t ecn ologia edu cacion al; soft w ar e; en fer m agem ; r ecu r sos h u m an os
Disponible en castellano/ Disponível em língua portuguesa SciELO Brasil w w w .scielo.br/ rlae
1 Paper extracted from Doctoral Dissertation, funded by CNPq; 2 RN, PhD, Botucatu Medical School, Paulista State University “ Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Brazil,
I NTRODUCTI ON
H
um an resource m anagem ent is a prim ary funct ion am ong nursing professionals’ funct ions and act i v i t i es i n t h i s ar ea i n cl u d e n u r si n g p er so n n el scheduling. This act ivit y is quit e im por t ant because it s developm ent , negot iat ion and execut ion involves m any issues, such as work legislat ion, personal life organization and relationships am ong team m em bers. I n addition, it falls under autonom y and power issues, since is not alw ays possible t o cr eat e a dem ocr at ic com posit ion and, oft ent im es, t hose wit h less decision power need to com ply with the determ ination of others who have such power.Nurses, to the exam ple of what occurs in other professions, m ust use com puter resources to im prove productivity and quality, as a way of aggregating and analyzing relevant inform ation for decision m aking and for the efficient perform ance of all their functions(1).
The developm ent of the nursing staff schedule inv olv es m any v ar iables t hat confer s com plex it y t o t he r ealizat ion of t his act iv it y and, lik ew ise, t o it s t eaching in t he nursing educat ion process.
The distribution of nursing staff is a com plex act ivit y t hat requires t im e and knowledge regarding t h e n ee d s o f t h e cl i en t el e , u n i t d y n a m i cs, characteristics of the nursing team and the work laws(2). Based on t h is p r ob lem , w e p r op osed t h e creat ion of a websit e about nursing st aff scheduling t o be used bot h in under gr aduat e nur sing t eaching and by professionals.
Com put er r esour ces open new per spect ives in ed u cat ion b ecau se t h ey allow u s t o cu st om ize t eaching and also t o ret hink t he nat ure of learning. How ev er, t hey cannot be r est r ict ed t o cour ses t hat only aim t o t each st udent how t o use t he com put er, but should r at her be a facilit at or and incr ease t he pot ent ial of t he t eaching/ learning process( 3).
Th r o u g h a n i m p o r t a n t ch a n n e l l i k e t h e I nt ernet , com put er t echnology can be a relevant t ool in cer t ain k n ow led g e ar eas an d w e con sid er t h at j oining these possibilities to the teaching of the nursing st aff schedule t hem e w as an appr opr iat e pr oposal. We believe that, in com bination with other strategies, t h is dev elopm en t can con t r ibu t e t o t h e edu cat iv e process on t he t hem e.
Th e i n t er n et h as b een l i t t l e ex p l o r ed b y nursing and t here is a need t o pay heed t o present and future changes. One of these changes can be the em er gence of new pr oduct s and m ar k et s in w hich
nursing can be inserted. Like other professions in the healt h area, nursing st art ed t o perceive t he I nt ernet as a m eans t hrough which healt h inform at ion could b e d issem in at ed b et t er, w h et h er f or p r of ession al ex change, as a r esour ce for r esear ch and/ or as a t ool t o prom ot e educat ion in healt h( 4).
I n Brazil, t he art icles published in t his area ar e not as num er ous as t he pr oduct ions, alt hough t hey have increased in recent years. Because of t he d i f f i cu l t i e s i n h e r e n t t o a n i n n o v a t i o n p r o ce ss, pioneering productions, in turn, do not always m anage t o adv ance fr om t he pr ot ot y pe phase t o a br oader u se in t h e p r of ession . Th e p r od u ct ion in n u r sin g inform atics is not lim ited to prototypes, but we highlight this fact because it m ay be contributing to the reduced dissem inat ion and use of t hese im por t ant t ools by nur sing pr ofessionals.
I nform at ics is an im port ant science t hat has been incorporated in nursing work processes, whether in care, adm inist rat ion, educat ion or science( 5).
Wit hout any claim on being com prehensive, below, we m ention som e of the im portant productions i n t h e Nu r si n g I n f o r m a t i cs a r e a . Th e r e i s t h e p r o d u ct i o n o f a CD - ROM o n m e d i ca t i o n ad m in ist r at ion( 6 ) at t h e Rib eir ão Pr et o Colleg e of Nursing. Websit es on coronary disease( 7), aspirat ion of t raqueobronchial secret ions( 8) am ong ot hers were developed at São Paulo Federal University. At the USP Colleg e of Nu r sin g , a CD- ROM on b u r n s( 9 ) an d a pr ot ot y pe for t he adm inist r at iv e act iv it y of nur sing scheduling were developed( 10).
Based on t h is p r ob lem , w e p r op osed t h e developm ent of a sit e on nursing st aff scheduling, t o be used in undergraduat e nursing t eaching and also by nursing professionals.
Thus, this proj ect aim ed to develop educative soft w ar e on t he t hem e Nur sing St aff Schedule and m ak e it av ailable on t he I nt er net . The aim w as t o cont ribut e bot h wit h t o undergraduat e st udent s and p r of ession als, w h o can seek t h ese r esou r ces f or review and/ or updat ed inform at ion.
MATERI AL AND METHOD
The system was developed between 2000 and 2003 with the support of pedagogic and com puter science professionals from São Paulo State University (UNESP), alt h ou g h t h e com p u t er p r of ession als b elon g ed t o another Cam pus, since we did not find all the technical support necessary in our unit. This fact required a longer tim e for the developm ent, given the need to travel to another city in order to participate in planning m eetings. Som e r epor t s w er e m ade av ailable on t he w ebsit e. Th er ef or e, in t er v iew s w er e h eld bet w een Novem ber 2000 and January 2002. These int erviews were t ape- recorded aft er t he signing of t he free and i n f o r m e d co n se n t t e r m a p p r o v a l b y t h e l o ca l I nst it ut ional Review Board. I n t ot al, four nurses and fiv e nur sing aids w er e int er v iew ed, som e of w hom elaborated and others com plied with schedules in their pr ofessional act ivit ies.
ELABORATI ON PHASES
Th e el ab o r at i o n p h ases d escr i b ed b el o w i n v o l v e, i n t h e asp ect s i t ap p l i es t o, ( au t h o r i t y, com plem entarity, attribution, transparency in propriety), com pliance w it h t he Healt h on t he Net Foundat ion Code(11), since the site is not sponsored by private firm s and has no com m ercial, but only educative purposes.
Bibliogr aphic Rev iew
A search in nat ional and int ernat ional bases and disser t at ion bases w as per for m ed and w e also so u g h t n a t i o n a l a u t h o r s w h o st u d y t h e n u r si n g inform at ics area, in addit ion t o docum ent s originat ed from correlat ed organizat ions, such as t he Brazilian Society of I nform atics in Health for exam ple, and also that part of the Brazilian labor legislation which affects t h e or gan izat ion of a st aff sch edu le. We u sed t h e descriptors: nursing, staff schedule, hum an resources, sit e, educat ional t echnology, soft ware.
Soft w ar e Dev elopm ent
Educat ional soft ware is a program developed t o m eet previously est ablished educat ional obj ect ives and, for it t o be effect ive and m eet t he pedagogical needs, its developm ent needs to count with education a n d i n f o r m a t i cs sp eci a l i st s( 1 2 ). Th u s, w e so u g h t p e d a g o g i ca l a d v i ce f r o m a p r o f e sso r f r o m t h e Depart m ent of Educat ion of t he Biosciences I nst it ut e at UNESP.
We st art ed t he st ruct uring of t he concept ual net work by t rying t o det erm ine t he associat ive levels and link age w it h pedagogical r ev isions because, t o t he ext ent t hat we were st ruct uring t he net work, we per for m ed r ev isions accor ding t o suggest ions fr om o u r a d v i so r. Al so , t o t h e e x t e n t t h a t sy st e m con f ig u r at ion s w er e p lan n ed , w e m et w it h t h ose r e sp o n si b l e f o r t h e i n f o r m a t i cs a r e a ( a n o t h e r Cam pus) , who were gradually developing parts of the pr oduct . Successiv e r ev isions w er e per for m ed unt il we achieved t he final form at .
The pedagogical option for the site was to work in t he perspect ive t hat considers t he st udent as t he const r uct or of his( er ) ow n know ledge, in w hich t he teacher m ust be the advisor/ facilitator of the educative pr ocess, based on Paulo Fr eir e’s em ancipat ing and liberat ing proposals( 5). According t o t his aut hor, t he student m ust be a subject of the knowledge production and the educative process m ust create the possibilities for its production or construction(13).
SI TE RESOURCES
On the initial page, the user will find the following m enu: pr esent at ion, hum an r esour ce m anagem ent , legislation, hum anization, sim ulation, reports, reader’s room , research, bibliography and site m ap.
Each of t he t opics leads t o secondary levels and, depending on t he case, t here are ot her deeper, reference or explanation levels. Through the site m ap, users can also navigat e t hrough t he act ive links.
On this site, students and professionals find the labor legislation organized according to the m ore usual sit u at ion s of leav e, f or ex am ple, m at er n it y leav e, overtim e, to m ention but a few possibilities. By accessing each item , they can find, linked to the specific situation, the legal foundation correspondent to the Consolidation of Work Laws (CLT) or, in the case of public em ployees, the São Paulo Statute for Public Em ployees.
The intention was for the student to becom e responsible for t he const ruct ion of his( er) knowledge i n st ead o f o n l y r ecei v i n g i n f o r m at i o n , u si n g t h e resource t o search, select and int errelat e significant i n f o r m at i o n b y m ean s o f ex p l o r at i o n , r ef l ect i o n , represent at ion and purificat ion of his( er) own ideas, according t o his( er) t hinking st yle( 5).
The I nternet is a valuable resource for those w ho do not hav e t he infor m at ion t hey need w hen confront ed wit h a problem in pract ice. The com put er allows people to easily find all kinds of inform ation( 14). I n addit ion t o t h e con t en t per se, cer t ain interview extracts were selected after content analysis and m ade available on t he sit e. These ext ract s were or g an ized in t w o t op ics: r ep or t s f r om t h ose w h o elaborate and from those who com ply with schedules. I n order t o prevent ident ificat ion of voices, t h e ex t r act s w er e t r an scr ib ed , a r ad io p r esen t er recorded them in a studio and, later, they were inserted in the site as m p3 files. Besides the reports, a sim ulation it em was also elaborat ed. This offers t he possibilit y for t he visit or, aft er regist ering, t o perform and send sim ulat ion exercises of a schedule. This sim ulat ion is in t er est in g f or t each in g, becau se t h e t each er can v isu alize it f r om t h e ad m in ist r at or sit e an d sen d com m ents and notes directly to the student’s e-m ail.
Nowadays, sim ulation plays an increasing role i n sci e n t i f i c r e se a r ch , i n d u st r i a l d e v e l o p m e n t , m anagem ent, learning and also for gam es and leisure. Fo r t h e au t h o r, si m u l at i o n i s n ei t h er t h eo r y n o r ex per ien ce, bu t a f or m of in du st r ializat ion of t h e t hought ex per ience, a special m ode of k now ledge, charact erist ic of t he incipient cybercult ure( 15).
The sim ulation was one of the m ost com plex e l e m e n t s t o d e v e l o p , b e ca u se i t i n v o l v e d program m ing, calendar and som e artificial intelligence t est s, f or ex am ple: n ot per m it t in g t h e st u den t t o pr ov ide leav e or ex cused absence t o an em ploy ee w ho is hir ed under a w or k cont r act det er m ined by t he CLT.
HOSTI NG THE SI TE
An int r oduct ion for t he sit e w as elabor at ed and t he syst em w as recorded on CD- ROM. I nit ially, t he sit e w as host ed by t he USP College of Nur sing because it w as r elat ed t o a gr aduat e pr oduct . This happened because, at t hat m om ent , we did not find all t he condit ions needed t o host t he sit e at UNESP, which happened lat er on, in 2004. Thus, nowadays, the site can be accessed on www.escala.fm b.unesp.br.
RESULTS
As a result , we have a product published on t he websit e, whose init ial screen is present ed below for t he sake of illust rat ion.
FI NAL CONSI DERATI ONS
We h a v e i n cr e a si n g l y o b se r v e d t h e p e n e t r a t i o n o f t h e i n t e r n e t i n t h e a ca d e m i c environm ent as a source of research, dissem inat ion and learning. The int ernet is current ly considered an im port ant m eans of com m unicat ion and it s insert ion in the education area is of great im portance, because it perm it s fast and cheap access t o a wide range of t o p i cs, i n cl u d i n g t h e d i sse m i n a t i o n o f sci e n t i f i c r esear ch( 16).
A st udy( 17) analy zed st udent s and det ect ed ext rem ely posit ive at t it udes t ow ards t he use of t he com put er r esour ce in nur sing t eaching, as w ell as interest and pleasure due to the use of this resource. We con sid er t h e d ev elop m en t of t h is an d ot her sim ilar t ools very useful when available on t he World Wide Web.
Education is and will always be an im portant asp ect o f i n f o r m at i cs i n n u r si n g an d t h e u se o f t echnology aim s t o facilit at e inform at ion access( 18).
One of t he great advant ages, which will be m ore precisely verified in fut ure research, in sim ilar st af f sch ed u le sit es, seem s t o b e r elat ed t o t h e availabilit y of organized legislat ion in a w ay t hat is fam iliar t o t hose developing t he schedule, t hat is, by topics nurses are used to work with in their routine.
An o t h e r p o si t i v e p o i n t i s r e l a t e d t o t h e possibilit y for t he st udent t o list en t o and reflect on t he r epor t s available on t he sit e, bot h fr om people who elaborat e t he schedules and t hose who have t o com ply w it h t hem . These pr ofessionals’ ex per ience offer s elem ent s t hat enr ich t he st udent s’ lear ning, because t hey go bey ond t he m er e legal or for m al aspect s involving t he t hem e.
The syst em has been used in undergraduat e and graduate teaching and has undergone alterations, because cont inuous im provem ent is necessary given t he const ant suggest ions users give t o enrich it . One of the lim iting factors in term s of agility in this process is t he insufficient num ber of hum an resources in t he infor m at ics ar ea. They incr easingly do not m anage t o com ply wit h dem ands, which are growing for t he dev elopm ent of v ir t ual pr oduct ions, or ganizat ion of sit es, am ong ot hers.
We believe that the critical use of the available t echnology will allow t eachers, and consequent ly t he academ ic structure they are linked to, in this case to the university, a better preparation for the future, also allow in g r oom f or ot h er possibilit ies lik e dist an ce learning, which is st rongly st im ulat ed nowadays and p olit ically su p p or t ed b y p u b lic in st it u t ion s. Th ese r e f l e x e s a r e a l r e a d y b e co m i n g r e a l i t y i n o t h e r e x p e r i e n ce s w h i ch w e h a v e h a d t h e ch a n ce t o part icipat e in t hrough dist ance learning.
We hope t o be able t o cont inue im pr ov ing t he sit e, cont ribut ing t o t eaching and t o t he Nursing I nfor m at ics ar ea.
ACKNOW LEDGEMENTS
- Dr. Miriam Celi Pim entel Porto Foresti - pedagogical adv isor ;
- Dr. Wilson M. Yonesawa - inform atics advisor, including his students Mirian Tiem i Kim ura and Rafael Taro Osako; - Cláudia Breit haupt - report narrat ion
- I nform atics Technical Office - EEUSP - hosting the site. - I nform at ics Technical Service / NEAD-TI S Bot ucat u Faculty of Medicine - hosting and updating the site.
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