Nurses distracted by smartphone use during clinical practice. Italian validation of the "Nurses' use of personal communication devices (PCD) questionnaire"
Aims: Technology in a care setting can help for health professions and improve communication in the multidisciplinary
but smartphone use during the care process would cause distraction and medication errors. This study aimed to
develop and validate the Italian version of the Nurses’ Use of Personal Communication Devices Questionnaire (PCDs
Questionnaire) Methods: This study took place at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy between July 2018 and
September 2018. A self-administered 22-item Nurses’ Use PCDs Questionnaire was designed and administrated to
193 nurses (average age of the sample 41.6, SD=9.8, 64.8% females). Exploratory factor analysis was performed to
assess the instrument's construct validity. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were used to determine internal consistency.
Results: A culturally adapted Italian version of Nurses’ Use of Personal Communication Devices Questionnaire (PCDs
Questionnaire) was provided. The internal consistency of the Italian version of Nurses’ Use PCDs Questionnaire-Ita
measured with Cronbach's alpha (α) was higher (.780). Conclusions: The Nurses’ Use PCDs Questionnaire (Italian
version) is a valid tool capable to examining the impact of personal communication devices use (such as basic cell
phones, enhanced cell phones or smartphones, and tablet computers) in hospital on patient care. Therefore, the
instrument could be adopted in clinical settings as a periodic nursing report. Guidelines on PCD use should be
developed to reduce the potential for distraction and preventing medical errors.