Improving Health Care Workers Compliance with Traceability by Recording the Nursing Process at the Point of Care Using a Personal Digital Assistant with a Barcode

Background: Adverse events are serious, and frequent complications are most often linked to the quality of nursing care. Purpose: We evaluated the compliance to traceability of bedside nursing care using the Patient Smart Reader®, a personal digital assistant with a barcode. Methods: We compared paper record forms, specific computer software in the hospital information system and the Patient Smart Reader®. Results: The Patient Smart Reader enhanced the recording of 90% of the nursing care surveyed. Regarding the insertion of blood catheters, compliance rates increased from 44.19% to 100%, and blood catheter monitoring increased from 29.64% to 80.74%. Urinary catheter monitoring and insertion recording increased from 10.23% to 55.43% and from 16.67% to 100%, respectively. Conclusion: Providing caregivers with a nursing record system that uses barcodes at the point of care in real time significantly improved the traceability of nursing care.