Implementation of an Electronic Nursing Record for Nursing Documentation and Communication of Patient Care Information in a Tertiary Teaching Hospital.

Despite the fact that implementing an electronic nursing record has become an everyday event for nurses, little is known about which type of documentation used in an electronic nursing record is better for nursing practice. The aim of this exploratory study was to identify the most suitable type of electronic nursing documentation that nurses used to record care and communicate with clinicians. Participants consisted of 118 nurses and 12 physicians. Researchers developed a self-report questionnaire of 17 items about electronic nursing record use for documentation and communication of patient care information. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to calculate frequencies and percentages. The χ2 test was used to identify differences in responses by demographic and clinical characteristics of participants. Bar charts were used to identify response patterns. Results showed that semistructured nursing documentation was the most preferred for care documentation and communication of patient information. Nurses did not always use the electronic nursing record to communicate patient care-related information. This study adds empirical knowledge about which type of documentation used in the electronic nursing record works well, what improvement is needed for better nursing practice, and whether the electronic nursing record has been used for communication.