The Role of electronic nursing documentation for continuity of care in short-time wards

Abstract

This paper provides an understanding on the role of the electronic nursing documentation, as an integrated part of the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) in a heterogeneous work practice hospital unit characterized by short-time stay. The aim is to find what role the electronic nursing documentation plays in the communication and collaboration between health care professionals and the different wards involved in the investigation process of cardiac patients. Further, the focus is on what long-term impacts the electronic nursing documentation has for nursing communication and handovers.

This is a qualitative study conducted three years after the implementation of electronic nursing documentation at the Cardiology Department at the University Hospital of North Norway. The sources for this research material are participant observations of the work flow, semi-structured interviews, informal talking and literature review. The notion of Information Infrastructure is used as the theoretical framework for the analysis of the EPR and nursing documentation as an information system. The elements and the interplay of the work practice are interpreted and analyzed through application of Actor-Network Theory (ANT).

For continuity of care in the process of cardiac catheterization, electronic nursing documentation presents performed interventions and delivers important information for the actors involved. A long-term impact from the implementation of electronic nursing documentation in the cross-disciplinary work related to cardiac catheterization is better access to relevant nursing care information for all parts of the treatment chain.

Key words: Actor-Network Theory, Continuity of Care, DIPS, Electronic Patient Record, Electronic Nursing Documentation, Information Infrastructure.