FACTORS INFLUENCING DOCUMENTATION IN NURSING CARE BY NURSES AT THE TAMALE TEACHING HOSPITAL, GHANA

Abstract

In Ghana, nursing documentation practice by nurses is sub-optimal. This analytical cross-sectional study assessed socio-demographic determinants of nursing documentation practice among 278 nurses at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH). Data was gathered using a questionnaire and both descriptive and inferential analyses were done to determine factors influencing nursing documentation practice. A large majority of the respondents (84.6%) had adequate knowledge on nursing documentation. Most of them (84.2%) had positive attitudes towards it and a large majority of them (77.1%) asserted to practice it always but only 74.0% adequately practiced nursing documentation. Knowledge of nursing documentation was statistically associated with age (AOR 0.12, 95% C1: 0.029-1.507; p=0.004) and work experience (AOR 15.29, 95% C1: 3.083-75.872; p=0.001), males were significantly more likely to have positive attitudes towards it (AOR, 2.81 CI, 1.434-5.501, p=0.003) whilst respondents aged 21-30 years (AOR, 5.85 (2.64-12.97), p