Use of narrative nursing records for nursing research.

To explore the usefulness of narrative nursing records documented using a standardized terminology-based electronic nursing records system, we conducted three different studies on (1) the gaps between the required nursing care time and the actual nursing care time, (2) the practice variations in pressure ulcer care, and (3) the surveillance of adverse drug events. The narrative nursing notes, documented at the point of care using standardized nursing statements, were extracted from the clinical data repository at a teaching hospital in Korea and analyzed. Our findings were: the pediatric and geriatric units showed relatively high staffing needs; overall incidence rate of pressure ulcer among the intensive-care patients was 15.0% and the nursing interventions provided for pressure-ulcer care varied depending on nursing units; and at least one adverse drug event was noted in 53.0% of the cancer patients who were treated with cisplatin. A standardized nursing terminology-based electronic nursing record system allowed us to explore answers to different various research questions.