Guidelines in Practice: Patient Information Management

Patient information management can involve paper and electronic documentation. Because the patient's health care record (HCR) is a legal document, it must provide an accurate representation of care. The record contains protected health information and must be secure. In addition, the documentation must adhere to local, state, and federal regulations and facility policies; it also may incorporate recommendations from national professional guidelines. The AORN "Guideline for patient information management" was recently updated and provides evidence-based best practices for comprehensive perioperative documentation that aligns with the nursing workflow. This article includes an overview of patient information management and discusses recommendations for health information technology, the patient HCR, perioperative record design, documentation and nursing workflow, informed consent documentation, order documentation, modifying patient HCRs, education, policies and procedures, and quality. Perioperative nurses should review the guideline in its entirety and apply the recommendations for patient information management as applicable to their individual roles.