Standardizing nursing information in Canada for inclusion in electronic health records: C-HOBIC

The Canadian Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care (C-HOBIC) project introduced systematic use of standardized clinical nursing terminology for patient assessments. Implemented so far in three Canadian provinces, C-HOBIC comprises an innovative model for large-scale capture of standardized nursing-sensitive clinical outcomes data within electronic health records (EHRs). To support this activity, nursing assessment and outcomes concepts were mapped to the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP(R)). By comparing serial data on a patient across multiple time points, the C-HOBIC model can generate nursing-sensitive patient outcome reports. A principle benefit of the C-HOBIC model is that it provides nurses with information critical to planning for and evaluating patient care. Inclusion of nursing information in either provincial databases or EHRs in three Canadian provinces promotes continuity of patient care across sectors of the healthcare systems in those provinces and also facilitates aggregation and analysis by administrators and policy makers. The C-HOBIC model provides standardized, consistent, interoperable clinical information that reflects nursing practice throughout the Canadian healthcare System.