Current nursing and midwifery contribution to leading digital health policy and practice: An integrative review

Abstract

Aim To review the current nursing and midwifery contribution to leading digital health (DH) policy and practice and what facilitates and/or challenges this.

Design Integrative literature review.

Methods Pre-defined inclusion criteria were used. Study selection and quality assessment using the appropriate critical appraisal tools were undertaken by two authors, followed by narrative synthesis.

Data Sources Six databases and hand searching for papers published from 2012 to February 2024.

Findings Four themes were identified from 24 included papers. These are discussed according to the World Health Organization's Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery and indicate nurses/midwives are leading DH policy and practice, but this is not widespread or systematically enabled.

Conclusion Nurses and midwives are ideally placed to help improve health outcomes through digital healthcare transformation, but their policy leadership potential is underused.

Implications for the profession and/or patient care Nurses/midwives' DH leadership must be optimized to realize maximum benefit from digital transformation. A robust infrastructure enabling nursing/midwifery DH policy leadership is urgently needed.

Impact This study addresses the lack of nursing/midwifery voice in international DH policy leadership. It offers nurses/midwives and health policymakers internationally opportunity to: drive better understanding of nursing/midwifery leadership in a DH policy context; enhance population outcomes by optimizing their contribution; Develop a robust infrastructure to enable this.

Reporting Method Reporting adheres to the EQUATOR network, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.

Patient or Public Contribution No patient or public contribution.