Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
activity, the ability to communicate accurately and in a timely
manner with other nursing professionals as well as other
disciplines is critical.
� It allows the capture of patient information in a more efficient
manner. This leads to more effective patient care.
� Stepping stone to becoming a computerised documentation
system. Can be used whether the method of entry is
computerised or manual.
� Continuity of care is facilitated through the use of the
standardized language. Having a clearly defined plan of care
ensures that all team members have an understanding of the
care to be provided to the patient.
� Quality Management. The use of standardized languages
allows comparison of measurable patient outcomes based on
the nursing interventions performed. In this way, nursing best
practices are developed. Interventions can be evaluated based
on the outcomes documented.
� Inform Health Care Administrators. Standardized nursing
languages and the development of an information infrastructure
provide a means to collect and analyse data to inform
administrators of nursing contributions and to cost out nursing
services. The inability to capture documentation that describe
nursing practices and assign value to their professional
contributions may lead to decisions to replace the professional
nurses’ skilled services with those of less skilled workers.
Finally, in the current environment of health service reform and
service quality improvement, healthcare professionals are
increasingly required to demonstrate the effectiveness of what they
do and articulate how they are contributing to the quality of patient
and client care. Nurses and Midwifes have the potential to carry
out a wide range of interventions in a variety of health care settings
and with patients and clients with varying diverse needs. By
identifying their interventions and measuring the outcomes of these
interventions, nurses and midwifes can articulate and clarify their
roles and functions in relation to both the settings in which they
work and the patients and clients to whom they deliver care
(MacNeela et al, 2006 and Voutilainen et al, 2004).
Reference List:
� Bjorvell, C. Wredlin, R. and Thorell – Ekstrand, I. (2003)
Improving Documentation using a Nursing Model. Journal of
Advanced Nursing. 43(4), 402-410
� Karkkainen, O. and Eriksson, K. (2005) Recording the
content of the caring process. Journal of Nursing Management.
13, 202-208
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