Patterns of nursing intervention use across 6 days of acute care hospitalization for three older patient populations.

PURPOSE. The purpose was to (a) identify frequently used nursing interventions, and (b) describe patterns of interventions used for each of the three patient groups. METHODS. This secondary data analysis used data from an academic medical center where the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) was used to electronically document nursing care. Descriptive statistics describe the types, frequencies, and patterns of NIC interventions delivered to three older acute care populations. FINDINGS. Four NIC treatments were frequently used in all patient groups. There were also NIC treatments and patterns of treatments that were unique to each group. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS. Using standardized nursing language in electronic medical records (EMRs) enables data extraction and analysis. Data extracted from EMRs provides nurse administrators with a tool to guide decisions regarding nurse staffing, education, evaluation, and resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]