BACKGROUND: Patient participation in nursing documentation has several benefits like including patients' personal wishes in tailor-made care plans and facilitating shared decision-making. However, the rise of electronic health records may not automatically lead to greater patient participation in nursing documentation. This study aims to gain insight into community nurses' experiences regarding patient participation in electronic nursing documentation, and to explore the challenges nurses face and the strategies they use for dealing with challenges regarding patient participation in electronic nursing documentation.METHODS: A qualitative descriptive design was used, based on the principles of reflexive thematic analysis. Nineteen community nurses working in home care and using electronic health records were recruited using purposive sampling. Interviews guided by an interview guide were conducted face-to-face or by phone in 2019. The interviews were inductively analysed in an iterative process of data collection-data analysis-more data collection until data saturation was achieved. The steps of thematic analysis were followed, namely familiarization with data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and reporting.RESULTS: Community nurses believed patient participation in nursing documentation has to be tailored to each patient. Actual participation depended on the phase of the nursing process that was being documented and was facilitated by patients' trust in the accuracy of the documentation. Nurses came across challenges in three domains: those related to electronic health records (i.e. technical problems), to work (e.g. time pressure) and to the patients (e.g. the medical condition). Because of these challenges, nurses frequently did the documentation outside the patient's home. Nurses still tried to achieve patient participation by verbally discussing patients' views on the nursing care provided and then documenting those views at a later moment.CONCLUSIONS: Although community nurses consider patient participation in electronic nursing documentation important, they perceive various challenges relating to electronic health records, work and the patients to realize patient participation. In dealing with these challenges, nurses often fall back on verbal communication about the documentation. These insights can help nurses and policy makers improve electronic health records and develop efficient strategies for improving patient participation in electronic nursing documentation.
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Objectives: Participation is considerably restricted in children and adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI) as compared to their healthy peers. This systematic review aims to identify which factors are associated with participation in children and adolescents with ABI. Methods: A systematic search in Medline and various other electronic databases from January 2001–November 2014 was performed. All clinical studies describing determinants of participation at least 1 year after the diagnosis of ABI by means of one or more pre-defined instruments in patients up to 18 years of age were included. Extracted data included study characteristics, patient characteristics, participation outcome and determinants of participation (categorized into: health conditions (including characteristics of ABI), body functions and structures, activities, personal factors and environmental factors). The methodological quality of the studies was evaluated based on three quality aspects (selection, information and statistical analysis bias) and scored as low, moderate or high. Results: Eight studies using an explicit participation outcome measure were selected after review, including a total of 1863 patients, with a follow-up ranging from 1 up to 288 months. Three studies included patients with a traumatic or a non-traumatic brain injury (TBI or NTBI) and five studies with only TBI patients. Factors consistently found to be associated with more participation restrictions were: greater severity of ABI, impaired motor, cognitive, behavioural and/or sensory functioning, limited accessibility of the physical environmentand worse family functioning. Fewer participation problems were associated with a supportive/nurturing parenting style, higher household income, acceptance and support in the community and availability of special programmes. The overall methodological quality of the included studies was high in two and moderate in six studies. Conclusion: This systematic review shows that only a few, moderate quality, studies on the determinants of participation after paediatric ABI using recommended explicit measurement instruments are available. Various components of the ICF model: health condition, body functions and structures and environmental factors were consistently found to be associated with participation. More methodologically sound studies, using the recommended explicit outcome measures, a standardized set of potential determinants and longterm follow-up are suggested to increase the knowledge on participation in children and youth with ABI.
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Purpose: This research aimed to explore factors associated with patient-reported breast and abdominal scar quality after deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap breast reconstruction (BR). Material and Methods: This study was designed as a descriptive cross-sectional survey in which women after DIEP flap BR were invited to complete an online survey on breast and abdominal scarring. The online survey was distributed in the Netherlands in several ways in order to reach a diverse population of women. Outcomes were assessed with the Patient Scale of the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS). Additional items were assessed with a numeric rating scale (NRS). Results: A total of 248 women completed the survey. There was a statistically significant worse POSAS scar appraisal for the abdominal scar compared with the breast scar. The vast majority of women reported high scores on at least one scar characteristic of their breast scar or ab- dominal scar. Overall, color, stiffness, thickness, and irregularity scored higher than pain and itching. Women were only moderately positive about the size, noticeability, location, and the information provided regarding scarring. Conclusion: It is crucial to address the inevitability of scars in patient education before a DIEP flap BR, with a particular focus on the abdominal scar, as women experience abdominal scars significantly worse than their breast scars. Providing more information on the experience of other women and the expected appearance will contribute to having realistic expectations while allowing them to make well-informed decisions.
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