Nurse's Knowledge and Practice of the Principles of Nursing Documentation at Hospitals of Kerman University of Medical Sciences

Documentation is among the most important practices in nursing, as studies indicate that this activity takes about 13% to 28% of total shift time. The aim of this study was determination of nurses’ knowledge and practice of the principles of nursing documentation at hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences, 2006.

In this descriptive analytical study, 226 staff nurses were selected based on census sampling method. Data were collected by a self-made instrument consisting of three sections. Instrument was used after obtaining validity and reliability. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis using SPSS. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

The finding showed that the majority of nurses (37.8%) working in Shafa hospital and majority of nurses had no history of spending the course of nursing documentation. also, the findings of this study revealed that majority of nurses had moderate knowledge (46.5%) and bad practice of documentation (85%) and there was statistically significant relationship between the type of hospital and knowledge and practice (P<0.0001) and spending course of nursing documentation and knowledge (P<0.0001). Results also revealed that there was a positive relationship between knowledge and practice (P<0.0001), but this relationship was not strong (r=0.24).

The results of this study suggest that spending course of nursing documentation may promote knowledge of nurses about the principles of documentation. The application of this knowledge in practice needs to be emphasized.