Quality improvement and conceptual development in ICNP within mental health work and substance abuse

Effective patient follow-up and high-quality patient care depend on accurate and systematic nursing documentation.

This project aims to develop and adapt the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) to better suit mental health and substance abuse work.

At the same time, we will develop a better understanding of the language used in documenting care provided within mental health and substance abuse, and develop methods in collaboration with users and patients to develop standardized documentation that does not stigmatize patients.

Method

The project has a strong user involvement, and wants to develop the concepts in collaboration with the user groups.

We aim to review electronic patient records (EPR) and literature for relevant nursing concepts from both the municipal health service and the specialist health service. We will then map these concepts to already existing ICNP and SNOMED CT terms as input for further terminology development.

In study two, we will guide the process of developing terms using scenario planning and PD, and ensure that all participants in the workshops, regardless of background, have the same opportunity to express their point of view.

This will in the longer term ensure that patients have the right to read, understand and be proactive in the use of their own patient records and be able to contribute to their own treatment. For nurses, it provides the opportunity to improve the quality of care and patient safety through improved documentation and information sharing.

Municipal care, hospital care, play expertise represented by patient and user organizations, and researchers are equal partners in the project.

International partners are Iceland and Portugal. We also involve mentors with linguistic expertise and from the Norwegian Research and Development Center for ICNP at the University of Agder. These national and international capacities will be valuable mentors and discussion partners for a postdoctoral candidate.