Critical incidents and important information in the care processes of patients with cardiac symptoms.

(2011) Journal of Nursing Management 209-217 To describe important information in the care processes of patients with cardiac symptoms. Process-based work-flow models are increasingly being used in healthcare. At the same time, developments in information systems offer the possibility of supporting improvements in process and information management in healthcare. To better utilize these possibilities we need to understand more about important information content and flow during treatment processes. A qualitative approach involving the critical incident technique was used. Critical incidents were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire (50 respondents) and interviews ( n = 10). Three incident categories of important information were identified: (1) process-related incidents, (2) managerial incidents and (3) clinical incidents. Process-related incidents focused on agreed-care practices and the importance of the care environment. Managerial incidents focused on human and material resources. Clinical incidents focused on medical and nursing care and the importance of patient education. Information content, information flow and the timing of such information should be modelled further in order to improve the management of care processes. Increasing knowledge about essential points of information as part of nursing management is important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]