Resource use of geriatric nurses due to documentation practices: A cross‐sectional study of applied recording techniques in nursing homes

AIM: To compare recent compliance cost estimates by nurses of German nursing homes who employ the new documentation approach structural model with those who use traditional documentation frameworks. DESIGN: A cross‐sectional survey. METHODS: For each documentation approach, five sub‐processes were surveyed employing standard activities. The postal and online surveys were based on the same self‐administered questionnaire. The measures addressed time investments and further costs to carry out the components of nursing documentation. Data were collected from a convenience sample of nurses (n = 264) from German nursing homes between October 2018 and June 2019. RESULTS: The analysed sub‐processes consume between 26 min and 8 hr per fulfilment. For users of the structural model, collecting information on a new admission is the costliest part of the documentation, at €90 per case. For users of other documentation approaches, care planning requires the most expensive effort, at €130 per case.