Documentation practice and associated factors among nurses working in adult intensive care units at public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2022

Abstract

Background: Nursing care documentation is a vital and powerful tool in the healthcare system to ensure continuity of care and communication between health personnel for better patient outcomes. Nurses' practice towards nursing care documentation affects the quality and coordination of patient care. Hence, this study aimed to assess practice and associated factors towards nursing care documentation among nurses working at public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 358 nurses working in intensive care units at public hospitals in Addis Ababa from August 2021 to January 2022. All nurses were selected by proportional allocation. Data was collected by using a self-administered questionnaire and observation checklist. EPI info and SPSS were used for data entry and analysis, respectively. Binary analysis was performed to select candidate variables for multivariable logistic regression analysis. All independent variables with p-values less than 0.20 were taken as candidates for the multivariable logistic regression model. The AOR is estimated to measure the strength of the association. In the final model, a p-value of less than 0.05 at 95% CI was considered a statistically significant association.

Results: 358 respondents participated in this study, with a response rate of 97.8%. Of all the nurses who took part in the study, 61.17%) of them were females. Two hundred twenty (61.45%) of the study respondents scored as having good practice, 222 (62.01%) as having good knowledge, and 221 (61.73%) had favorable attitudes. In the final model of multivariable logistic analysis, knowledge (AOR= 1.63; 95% CI: 1.04, 2.54) and attitude of nurses (AOR= 2.30; 95%CI: 1.47, 3.58) had a statically significant association with nursing documentation practice.

Conclusion and Recommendation: This study revealed that good nursing documentation practice was 61.45 % among ICU nurses. The knowledge and attitude of intensive care unit nurses toward nursing documentation were the only factors associated with nursing care documentation practice.