The effect of health care workers' digital addiction levels on their work readiness

This research aims to examine the impact of healthcare professionals' digital addiction levels on their work readiness. In the study, a survey was used as a quantitative research data collection method. The survey forms consist of questions about demographic characteristics, the "Digital Addiction Scale" and the "Work Readiness Scale for Healthcare Workers". A total of 403 healthcare workers were reached online using convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods. The data obtained were evaluated with descriptive statistics, as well as Pearson explanations, single regression, t-test and ANOVA analyses. The findings revealed that female healthcare workers, who constituted 28% of the sample, had higher levels of digital addiction compared to men (72%), and that digital addiction levels decreased and work readiness levels increased with increasing age and professional seniority in all participants. Generally, negative and significant relationships were found between healthcare workers' digital addiction levels and their work readiness levels. It was concluded that the sub-dimensions of the work readiness scale in healthcare workers, namely job competence, verbal intelligence, and organizational intelligence, were negatively significantly predicted by all sub-dimensions of the digital addiction scale, namely overuse, relapse, obstruction of life flow, inability to let go of emotions, and mood. A positive relationship was observed only between the personal job characteristics sub-dimension of the work readiness scale and digital addiction. The results obtained reveal that digital addiction in the healthcare sector is directly related to job competence and performance, and that digital awareness and balance training, especially for young and junior employees, can provide significant support in their job adaptation processes.