Nurses’ experience with telecare: a qualitative analysis of perceptions and implications for caring and the nursing profession

Background: In Italy, telecare has experienced significant growth in recent years, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. This modality helps overcome geographic and time barriers, proving to be a valuable tool for ensuring access to care and improving the quality of life for patients. However, implementing telecare requires several challenges for nurses such as difficulty to adapt to a remote relationship, lack of training and adequate technological resources, and concerns about data security and privacy. The aim of the study is to explore nurses' experience with telecare and their perceptions about its positive and negative implications for caring and the profession. Methods: A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was carried out by involving ten nurses working with telecare service from the Local Health Authority of a city in a central-Italy region. Results: Four main themes emerged: (1) the benefits of telecare, (2) the disadvantages of telecare, (3) opportunities for professional growth, and (4) challenges in telecare. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that effective implementation of telecare should take into account not only its potential benefits for patients and nurses but also the challenges related to the nurse-patient relationship and technological barriers. To improve healthcare it is important to invest in training, develop accessible technologies, share patient data and integrate telecare into traditional care models, in order to foster an holistic and individualized approach. Clinical trial number: Not applicable.