Nursing documentation: non-physical dimensions of end-of-life care in acute wards.
OBJECTIVE
to explore discrepancies between nurses' knowledge and their documentation of issues of psychosocial, spiritual and cultural aspects of palliative care, evidenced clearly in recent nursing research into end-of-life care in an acute care, teaching hospital.


METHODS
the study involved a retrospective patient case-note audit of an opportunistic sample of 20 patients deceased recently and interviews of the two nurses most involved in the care of each patient (n=40).


RESULTS
this research indicates that nurses in acute care settings often recognize, sometimes explore, but infrequently document psychosocial, spiritual and cultural aspects of care.


CONCLUSIONS
there is a strong need for: (1) education about both the impact of non-physical dimensions of patients' lives and the effective documentation of these dimensions; and (2) up-grading of documentation tools to better facilitate documentation of non-physical aspects of palliative care.
Hegarty
Meg
M
Department of Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. meg.hegarty@flinders.edu.au
Hammond
Lynne
L
Parish
Karen
K
Glaetzer
Karen
K
McHugh
Annie
A
Grbich
Carol
C
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D003469:Culture; D004282:Documentation; D005260:Female; D018939:Holistic Nursing; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009731:Nursing Audit; D009737:Nursing Records; D010166:Palliative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013021:South Australia; D029181:Spirituality