Novel DAR Marker enhances clinical documentation

  

To facilitate nurses’ accurate clinical documentation, the Central Nursing Division and frontline nurses of North District Hospital (NDH) created a Data‑Action-Response (DAR) Marker, which has won an Excellence Award in Talent Development Project of Asian Hospital Management Awards (AHMA). NDH has won an AHMA award three times in a row.

Since 2016, a DAR Marker is put into each patient folder to remind colleagues to assess patients’ condition (Data) and provide medical care (Action), and thus enhances nursing care plan documentation (Response). Common assessment tools are also included in the Marker, such as Glasgow coma scale, fall risk, pressure injury risk, malnutrition screening tool, muscle power grading and modified functional ambulation classification.

Sammei Tam, General Manager (Nursing), expresses, “Good nursing documentation reflects nurses’ judgement and outcome of care, and hence it does not only enhance the role of our nurses, but also allows multidisciplinary communication and collaboration in the delivery of continued care.”