The Use of Networking in Nursing Practice —An Integrative Review

Networking provides access to countless opportunities for nurses and patients and allows them to communicate, interact and collaborate with each other in order to enhance nursing care practice and improve health. The ubiquity of information and communication technologies have the potential to improve access to both health information and services in health care. The authors aim for this study is to investigate the role of networking tools in shaping and improving nursing care practices. An integrative review was conducted and electronic databases of PubMed, Cochrane, Science Direct and ACM Digital Library were searched for studies published between 1985 and 2015. Sixteen articles, based on the use of networking tools in nursing care practice, were included in the review. Data synthesis consists of writing descriptive summaries and thematic analysis of the key findings in the included articles. Different networking tools are currently used by nursing professionals for patient’s safety and well-being. These include information technology, telehealth nursing, IT and networking applications, social media networks, miscellaneous interaction networks, internet as a source of information and communication networks. Networking assist healthcare professionals with completing their daily tasks such as teaching patients, monitoring their health, tracking their blood pressure and much more. A variety of networking tools are available for managing chronic disease, diet, and lifestyle choices of patients. However, privacy, security and reliability of exchanged information is extremely important in improving the quality of patient care.