A multi-group path analysis of medication documentation quality using cross-sectional survey data

Abstract

Medication-related adverse events are a major problem for patient safety and quality of care. This study explored the effects of leadership, job satisfaction, patient-related burnout and patient safety culture, measured through surveys of frontline workers, on documentation quality. Perceptions of physicians and nurses were surveyed using established instruments including the Transformational Leadership Inventory, the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, and the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Documentation quality was evaluated using retrospective review of patient records with the MediDoq instrument. Data from 24 departments, covering 282 physicians, 417 nurses, and 802 patient records, were analysed through a multi-group (physicians and nurses) path analysis to evaluate the theoretical model. The theoretical model revealed satisfactory fit, explaining about 76–80% of the variance in Documentation Quality for physicians and nurses. Perceived Patient Safety had a significant effect on Documentation Quality only for nurses. The analyses revealed differences between professional groups. Based on these results, (i) medication documentation quality may be affected by various organizational factors; (ii) perceived Patient Safety reported by the nurses may mediate some of these effects; (iii) the effects of various organizational factors on documentation quality may vary significantly across professional groups.