Nurse-sensitive indicators during COVID-19.

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Public Health
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Nurses are crucial in COVID-19 patient care, utilizing various assessment and documentation strategies.
• Effective nursing documentation is vital for patient outcomes and understanding care delivery.
• No prior studies have examined nursing documentation during the COVID-19 pandemic using a framework that includes social determinants of health (SDoH).

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct an exploratory audit of nursing documentation for hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the initial surge.
• To identify the types and frequency of nurse-sensitive indicators documented.
• To assess the documentation of SDoH within nursing records.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective chart review of 94 COVID-19 patient records at an academic medical center.
• Utilized Gordon's Eleven Functional Health Patterns (FHP) framework for data extraction.
• Employed descriptive statistics to analyze clinical, social, and nursing assessment data.

Main Results:

• Nine out of eleven FHPs were represented by documented nurse-sensitive indicators.
• Social determinants of health data (race, education, occupation, abuse history) were inconsistently documented.
• The patient cohort included a significant proportion of males (59.6%) with a mean age of 58.

Conclusions:

• The FHP framework effectively captured numerous nurse-sensitive indicators during the early COVID-19 pandemic.
• Limited screening and documentation of SDoH present a gap in comprehensive nursing care during crises.
• Improved documentation practices are needed to integrate sociodemographic factors for culturally sensitive and comprehensive care.