The Influence of Integrated Electronic Medical Records and Computerized Nursing Notes on Nurses' Time Spent in Documentation

Tracy Yee, Jack Needleman, Marjorie L. Pearson, Patricia H. Parkerton, Melissa Parkerton, Joelle Wolstein

ResearchPosted on rand.org 2012Published In: CIN, Computers Informatics Nursing, v. 30, no. 6, June 2012, p. 287-292

We investigated nurses' time spent in documentation as it relates to the use of electronic charting. A cross-sectional analysis was completed using time and motion data collected during a nursing process improvement initiative for 105 units in 55 hospitals. Ordinary least squares regression with a cluster adjustment revealed very little difference in time spent in documentation with or without the use of electronic medical records or computerized nursing notes. Nurses spent 19% of their time completing documentation, regardless of electronic charting usage, compared with all other categories of care. These findings suggest that integrated electronic medical records and computerized nursing notes do not appear to increase the time nurses spend documenting.

Key Findings

The use of electronic charting does not appear to increase the time nurses spend documenting.

  • With or without electronic charting options, nurses spend about 19 percent of their time completing documentation.

Topics

Document Details

  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Year: 2012
  • Pages: 6
  • Document Number: EP-201200-62

This publication is part of the RAND external publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.