Through researching our topic regarding the important of accurate intake and output charting including IV fluids and medication drips, we found that there has already been research to determine why this issue is happening. In past research, it was found that a major cause of inaccurate charting of intake and output is the lack of awareness in the importance this data. This task if commonly overlooked in a nurse’s and other health care workers job tasks. There is a device that is an automated urine output device. This is new device that nobody in my group has heard of so it was interesting to gain some insight on this device. We are all currently placed on the cardiac floor at Maine Medical Center where almost all of the patients are placed on strict intake and output measurements. Although the orders are placed, it is sometimes difficult to get it perfect. Implementing this device onto R7 at MMC would be so beneficial to the floor and patient outcomes.
Prior to this research and having clinical experience on a cardiac floor, I did not realize how important accurate intake and output was. I wondered if other students, CNAs, and nurses were aware of the importance of this documentation. Providers may base certain orders or medications on these numbers. A research study that we had found during our research said that after education, promotion of best practice, and varying audits on cardiac patients specifically, 100% of staff became compliant and 75% of patients became involved. This numbers are amazing and really show how educating both our staff and patients can provide much more accuracy into intake and output. With this study and information, I will continue to promote and advocate for more accurate charting of intake and output as I feel that it can be a forgetting about concept in patient care.
The process of creating the topic proposal for this project was a very great and easy-going experience. Each member of my team worked together to create a concise, but informative topic proposal. We got right to the point while also incorporating important data from our research that helped to support our proposal. We were unsure how we were going to all work on this project together because our group consists of 8 people which can make it difficult to all work on one project together and split the work evenly. However, my group collaborated and was able to work together efficiently and evenly. There were minimal revisions that we needed to make after the submission of our draft, just some minor spacing issues and re-wording of certain sentences. I am looking forward to working with this group on the final part of the Dissemination project!
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