Nurses' actions in response to nursing assistants' observations of signs and symptoms of infections among nursing home residents

AIMS: To describe what nurses do during episodes of suspected infection in elderly nursing home residents and if these actions are linked to who is initiating an episode and whether the episode is considered an infection or not. DESIGN: Prospective descriptive study. Data were collected in 2008–2010. METHODS: Summarized and categorized documentation by nursing assistants and nurses was used for summative content analysis. RESULTS: Nurses' actions seem to be related to who initiated the episode and if the episodes are categorized as ‘non‐infection’, ‘possible infection’ or ‘infection’. Actions could be ‘observation’, ‘screenings’, ‘engaged in waiting’, ‘follow‐ups’, ‘nurse‐prescribed actions’, ‘diagnosing’, ‘contacting the physician’, ‘carrying out an action prescribed by the physician’, ‘contacting an ambulance or arranging an emergency visit to the hospital’ and ‘prescribing screening’. As NAs often initiate episodes of suspected infection by observing changed conditions, it seems important to include the NA in the decision‐making process as these observations could detect possible early signs and symptoms of infections.