Evaluating the barriers to point-of-care documentation for nursing staff

Comput Inform Nurs. 2012 Mar;30(3):126-33. doi: 10.1097/NCN.0b013e3182343f14.

Abstract

Point-of-care documentation has been identified as a patient safety measure for improving accuracy and timeliness of data. To evaluate the barriers that nurses and nurse aide/clinical technicians encounter for electronic point-of-care documentation, we conducted surveys on a telemetry unit at a southwestern Pennsylvania community hospital. Our first survey revealed that the location of the in-room computers, perceived lack of in-room computer reliability, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act/privacy concerns, and perceptions of the patients' response to charting on computers in patient rooms were all barriers to point-of-care documentation. Our second survey revealed that workflow priority issues were also a barrier to point-of-care documentation, as staff members did not rate documentation as a high priority in terms of delivering timely medical care. Changes in both nursing practices and hospital infrastructure may be needed if these barriers to point-of-care documentation are to be overcome.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Attitude of Health Personnel*
  • Electronic Health Records / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nursing Evaluation Research
  • Nursing Methodology Research
  • Nursing Records*
  • Nursing Staff, Hospital / psychology*
  • Point-of-Care Systems / statistics & numerical data*
  • Qualitative Research
  • United States
  • Workflow
  • Young Adult