title: Nursing documentation: non-physical dimensions of end-of-life care in acute wards.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. meg.hegarty@flinders.edu.au
authors.forename: Meg
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hegarty
authors.forename: Lynne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Parish
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Glaetzer
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grbich
mesh_terms: 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