Abstract
The South African public sector continues to be the key provider of healthcare, as most people are dependent on free services due to a lack of financial resources as tecnologa result of historical factors such as apartheid policies, which gave birth to socio-economic inequalities. The public sector grapples with various challenges, such as the digital divide between public and private hospitals, uneven distribution of technological resources and economic challenges. The increase in patient intake in public hospitals poses a challenge to health professionals' working conditions and the development of public health facilities. The integration and use of technological resources have been viewed as one of the mechanisms to address these challenges.
This study explored the transformative role of technology in public hospitals, specifically examining nurses’ perceptions regarding the impacts of technology and its potential to enhance service delivery and improve their working conditions. Ten nurses from Masakhane Public Hospital1 participated in the study, the data collection included ten semi-structured interviews. These interviews were conducted in person one-on-one and included open-ended questions. The study showed that the participants understood technology and its potential contributions to their workplace. They indicated they used various technological resources such as therapy edge systems, mobile monitors, vending ventilators, infusion pumps, and vital sign machines to perform their duties.
The findings further revealed that the participants held differing views on using the mentioned technological resources. Those who received technical support and possessed personal technical skills had a positive outlook on using technology and its impacts. In contrast, those lacking technical support expressed negative views. Additionally, the findings indicated that dysfunctional technological resources and insufficient financial support posed significant challenges to the effective use of technology in delivering health services. Despite these challenges, the findings showed that the use of technological resources positively impacted the hospital's daily operations and improved the working conditions of nurses. The participants
1 A pseudonym
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highlighted several positive contributions, including minimisation of long queues and paperwork, promotion of standardisation in service delivery, improved patient medical record management, effective patient demarcation, medication dispensary, and an effective diagnosis procedure. These findings inform us that the use of technology in public hospitals can have a positive impact on the working conditions of nurses and promote access to quality health services. In conclusion, the use of technological resources has the potential to improve access and quality health services in public healthcare.