The Everyday Hassles of Managing Medication Changes in Long-Term Care: A Nursing Perspective on Data Fragmentation and Delayed Recording

Abstract

Nursing homes, home care, and other institutions for long-term care (LTC) manage many frail and elderly citizens’ medication. If changes to their medication are not handled meticulously, these patients’ health may suffer. This study investigates the everyday work involved in managing medication changes for LTC patients. Because nurses are pivotal to medication management in LTC, the study adopts a nursing perspective. Empirically, the study is based on interviews with LTC nurses in Norway. We find that the management of medication changes is cumbersome for the nurses because of data fragmentation across multiple systems and delays in the recording of new prescriptions. The data fragmentation and delayed recording result from poor system integration and lax documentation practices. To keep the infrastructure for medication management in working order, the nurses assume an intermediary role, in which they coordinate that changes to medication happen as prescribed.