Abstract

Best Practice Guidelines (BPGs) represent a promising way to improve nursing care by reducing the time lag between research findings and subsequent changes in healthcare practices. Translating the currently paper-based BPGs into a portable, computer-based format is seen as an important step towards the widespread use of BPGs in nursing practice. In implementing the asthma BPG onto a PDA, we have discovered that the concept of an “algorithm” is distinctly different for nurses and for computer programmers. Our on-going development of the computer-based BPG is influenced by these insights into the dynamic and iterative process of nursing care.

Article (PDF):