Poor Documentation Of Care And Impact On Patient Outcome Essay

Clinical documentation Improvement (CDI) is the program or the training that is design to provide the good link between coders and health care providers that increase the accuracy and completeness of patient health care documentation. According to American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) tool kit CDI is the program especially design for health care field for initiate concurrent and, as appropriate, retrospective review of patient health records for accurate, incomplete, or nonspecific provider documentation (Scharffenberger and Kuehn 2011). Most of the time patient health record review occur in inpatient location but it there is any confusion then the review can go through electronic health records too. CDI play a vital role solving complex case between coder and health care provider that result in easy and smooth operation of reimbursement process in health care organization for the service they provide to patient.

Record-keeping and documentation are a hugely important part of nursing practice that unfortunately is often overlooked. Good record-keeping is in fact an essential element of being a good nurse. This assignment will discuss the importance of record-keeping in the healthcare setting. Record-keeping is vital for three main functions of nursing. It facilitates communication, promotes safe and appropriate nursing care and meets professional and legal standards (CRNBC 2008). These purposes and other important functions of record-keeping will be described in this assignment. The professional and legal implications of poor record-keeping will also be outlined. The topics will only be briefly and broadly discussed due to word count

1.1 Identify legislation and codes of practice that relate to handling information in health and socail care

Health information is an important source of information and evidence when the services provided are communicated in legal and professional documentation. It is a documentation which is a legal requirement and a record of the beneficiary’ care as well as a communication vehicle between other disciplines and providers. It not only ensures the services provided to individuals but is a crucial tool to support reimbursement of services and a basis for research. Incomplete and improper documentation potentially may lead into a denial of payment for services as well as question’s the quality of care provided.

The Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) has emerged as the most vital drive for overcoming the issues associated with maintaining a complete and good sound medical record in the U.S healthcare system. The main focus of CDI is to enhance clinical clarity of the health records which usually involves the process of improving the medical/health records documentation in order to promote effective patient outcome, data quality measures and accurate reimbursement for services and care rendered. For a medical record to be meaningful and mirror the scope of treatment and services provided, it must be accurate and meet the established guidelines set forth by the governing bodies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicare.

Summarise the main points of legal requirements and codes of practice for handling information in health and social care.

Any information utilized in, “documenting healthcare or health status,” of a patient must be included in the designated record set (AHIMA, 2011). This includes patient documentation collected on any medium, such as WAVE files or x-ray images (AHIMA, 2011). Consequently, due to the incorporation of clinical, administrative, and other protected private health information, the designated record set is extremely different from the legal health record (AHIMA,

Include documentation in nursing flow sheet, nursing notes, or physician orders. Documentation should be accessible in the patient record and recorded in a standard format for data collection and quality improvement purposes.

The purpose of this document is to provide the management of Nightingale Community Hospital with a resource outlining the current compliance status of the organization based on the Joint Commission guidelines. Based on these guidelines, the Joint Commission will conduct an audit of Nightingale Community Hospital. These guidelines are used to assess the standards compliance in relation to the patient, residents as well as the client care. In detail, assessment and care for patients include execution of a series of processes such as planning care, treatment, provision of care, reassessment of care and discharge planning. Assessment of care is primarily the accommodation of a patient needs while in a care setting. Nightingale Community Hospital is not exempt from inappropriate variations and the current compliance status is wanting. Variations arise from many co related factors, some beyond the control of the hospitals care system. To restore the compliance of the hospital's care system, it is important to review the last survey highlighting the key areas that need restructuring.

Medical record keeping has a robust history of promoting patient care. The patient’s need for optimal

Clinical documentation is vital to the success and care every clinical facility provides for their patients. It is a time-stamped process that includes all medical data performed by the hospital. It gives detailed analysis of procedures that were done, reasons why and past medical history. This gives the patient and hospital a detailed summary which helps improves the effectiveness

Improving patient health is the main objective for every healthcare provider and setting. To attain this goal, they use some standards to represent the information needed. Thus, accurate health information is crucial to provide the appropriate treatment to a patient that is hospitalized. The use of health information standard represents the essential to patient safety. This application will describe the standard used in the case of a hospitalized patient through various scenarios.

“Nursing is an art, and if it is to be made an art, requires as exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painter’s or sculptor’s work...” (Nightingale, 1868)

Documentation plays a vital role in research, education, quality assurance and reimbursements for both patients and providers (Okaisu, Kalikwani, Wanyana, & Coetzee, 2014, p. 1). The importance of documentation is not lost on any RN, but continuity in what is recorded and what is absolutely necessary to have in a patient’s record is not always met.

Ineffective nursing documentation compromises patient safety and can result in serious or even fatal errors. Nursing documentation is essential to practice and is defined as everything entered into a patient’s electronic health record or written in a patients’ record (Perry, 2014). The goal of effective nursing documentation to ensure continuity of care, maintain standards and reduce errors (Perry, 2014). Nurses are accountable for their professional practice which requires documentation to effectively reflect the care that clients receive. The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) states that nursing being regulated health care professionals are accountable for ensuring that their documentation is accurate and meets the practice standards (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009). Effective documentation strategies to reduce errors include; documenting in a timely fashion, using correct abbreviations and spelling, correcting documentation errors appropriately and ensuring that handwriting is legible. The purpose of this paper is to explore these strategies in greater detail with the goal of improving the care nurses provide to their clients to enhance safety.