MethodologyMethodology

A web-based survey was developed and edited by experts prior to publication. The survey targeted those telenurses who were actively practicing in telenursing at the time of the survey, or who were working for an organization that supported telehealth/telemedicine, (i.e. vendor, public policy, etc.). The survey was hosted online from September 18, 2004 to January 31, 2005. Online invitations were sent internationally to those in key telehealth organizations and nursing groups as well as individual points of contact. Over 2000 invitations to participate were emailed.   Over 1600 persons accessed the survey over the course of the 4.5 months that it was online. Two screening questions were asked to verify that participants were active in Telenursing:

1. I am a registered nurse who is involved in using telehealth (voice and/or video and/or data) in my practice or job.
2. I am a registered nurse working in a telemedicine or telehealth program, institution, or company.

If participants answered "yes" to one or both of the above questions, they were directed to proceed to the survey.  Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted, depending on the nature of the question/area of the survey.