FACTORS INFLUENCING DOCUMENTATION IN NURSING CARE BY NURSES AT THE TAMALE TEACHING HOSPITAL, GHANA

Abstract

In Ghana, nursing documentation practice by nurses is sub-optimal. This analytical cross-sectional study assessed socio demographic determinants of nursing documentation practice among 278 nurses at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH). Data was gathered using a questionnaire and both descriptive and inferential analyses were done to determine factors influencing nursing documentation practice. A large majority of the respondents (84.6%) had adequate knowledge on nursing documentation. Most of them (84.2%) had positive attitudes towards it and a large majority of them (77.1%) asserted to practice it always but only 74.0% adequately practiced nursing documentation. Knowledge of nursing documentation was statistically associated with age (AOR 0.12, 95% C1: 0.029-1.507; p=0.004) and work experience (AOR 15.29, 95% C1: 3.083-75.872; p=0.001), males were significantly more likely to have positive attitudes towards it (AOR, 2.81 CI, 1.434-5.501, p=0.003) whilst respondents aged 21-30 years (AOR, 5.85 (2.64-12.97), p<0.001) and certificate nurses (AOR, 23.79 (2.23-253.25), p=0.009) were shown to have significantly adequate level of practice of nursing documentation. Also, knowledge of nursing documentation had a significant influence on practice of nursing documentation (AOR 0.137, 95% C1: 0.032-0.583, p=0.007). Organizational factors that affected documentation included ‘availability of operational standards’, ‘in-service training’, lack of staff’, ‘lack of motivational packages and apathy’. Knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses on documentation was high but certain organisational factors could influence this. To strengthen documentation by nurses, it is recommended that nursing managers and policymakers equip TTH with nursing staff, logistics and guidelines on nursing documentation.