Electronic nursing documentation interventions to promote or improve patient safety and quality care: A systematic review

AIM: To review the evidence on the effects/impact of electronic nursing documentation interventions on promoting or improving quality care and/or patient safety in acute hospital settings. BACKGROUND: Electronic documentation has been recommended to improve quality care and patient safety. With the gradual move from paper-based to electronic nursing documentation internationally, there is a need to identify interventions that can effectively improve quality care and patient safety. EVALUATION: We conducted a systematic review on the effectiveness of electronic nursing documentation interventions on promoting or improving quality care and/or patient safety in acute hospital settings. KEY ISSUES: Six articles reporting on six individual studies met all eligibility criteria. They were uncontrolled pre/post intervention studies reporting positive impacts on at least one or more outcomes. Most outcomes related to documentation practice and documentation of content. CONCLUSION: Some evidence from our review indicates that implementing electronic nursing documentation in acute hospital settings is time saving, reduces rates of documentation errors, falls and infections. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: A planned approach from management over time to allow nurses adapt to new electronic systems of documentation would seem a good investment in terms of efficiency of work time, possibly resulting in more time for clinical care.