Workplace culture and accessibility of the Internet for professional learning

The World Wide Web is an important information source for professionals providing immediate access to the most current information and recent research. This study examined accessibility to the Internet within healthcare workplaces by utilising two measures, namely computers with Internet access within the workplace, and practitioners’ reported ease of access to the Internet within their workplace. This study showed there is widespread variation in both computers with Internet access within workplaces and also practitioners’ perception of their ease of access to the Internet within the workplace. This study also identified that limiting Internet access to computers in offices reduced ease of access to the Internet for the majority of practitioners, and in particular the recent graduate. Issues reducing accessibility of the Internet within workplaces must be addressed so that health practitioners can avail themselves of Internet-based resources that support them in updating their professional knowledge