Quality of Care: Ecological Study for the Evaluation of Completeness and Accuracy in Nursing Assessment

Angela Iula, Carola Ialungo, Chiara de Waure, Matteo Raponi, Matteo Burgazzoli, Maurizio Zega, Caterina Galletti and Gianfranco Damiani
Additional contact information
Angela Iula: Degree in Nursing & Midwifery Sciences, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito, 1, 00168 Rome, Italy
Carola Ialungo: Degree in Nursing & Midwifery Sciences, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito, 1, 00168 Rome, Italy
Chiara de Waure: Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy
Matteo Raponi: Internal Audit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
Matteo Burgazzoli: Internal Control System and Auditing Functions, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 20123 Milan, Italy
Maurizio Zega: Department UOC SITRA, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
Caterina Galletti: Degree in Nursing & Midwifery Sciences, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito, 1, 00168 Rome, Italy
Gianfranco Damiani: Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-9

Abstract: Nursing documentation is an important proxy of the quality of care, and quality indicators in nursing assessment can be used to assess and improve the quality of care in health care institutions. The study aims to evaluate the completeness and the accuracy of nursing assessment, analyzing the compilation of pain assessment and nutritional status (body mass index (BMI)) in computerized nursing records, and how it is influenced by four variables: nurse to patient ratio, diagnosis related group weight (DRG), seniority of charge nurse, and type of ward (medical, surgical or other). The observational ecological pilot study was conducted between September and October 2018 in an Italian Tertiary-Level Teaching Hospital. The nursing documentation analyzed for the ‘Assessment’ phase included 12,513 records, 50.4% concerning pain assessment, and 45% BMI. The nurse–patient ratio showed a significant direct association with the assessment of nutritional status ( p = 0.032). The average weight DRG has a negative influence on pain and BMI assessment; the surgical units positively correlate with the compilation of nursing assessment (BMI and pain). The nursing process is an essential component for the continuous improvement in the quality of care. Nurses need to be accountable to improve their knowledge and skills in nursing documentation.

Keywords: nursing records; nursing assessment; pain measurement; nutrition assessment; quality of healthcare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3259/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3259/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:9:p:3259-:d:355022

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().