Influence of Multidisciplinary Collaboration on the Quality of Documentation of Nursing Care in Selected County Referral Hospitals in Kenya

A multidisciplinary care team comprises a range of healthcare professionals whose coordinated efforts result in high-quality, patient-centered care. However, communication challenges frequently undermine multidisciplinary teams, compromising the success and quality of team activities. Research has shown that physicians and nurses focus on different aspects of patient care, and that synergy between them improves outcomes. For nurses' contributions to patient care to be fully realized, nursing care activities must be clearly documented. Without team synergy, healthcare professionals often work in silos, with minimal consultation on documentation and limited opportunities for improvement. This study examined the influence of multidisciplinary collaboration on the quality of nursing care documentation. The study was anchored on the service delivery pillar of health systems strengthening and was conducted in Nyeri, Nyandarua, and Isiolo County Referral Hospitals. A stratified sampling technique was used to select the three counties, and a census approach was applied to nurse managers. A descriptive research design was employed, using questionnaires and key informant guides for data collection. The study collected both qualitative and quantitative data. Thematic and content analyses were used for qualitative data, while regression analysis in SPSS version 26.0 was applied to quantitative data. Findings were presented using frequency tables and charts. From the study, only 22% of documented nursing care was categorized as good. Several multidisciplinary factors influencing nursing care documentation were identified, including joint setting of clinical outcomes, joint evaluation of patient progress, limited multidisciplinary consultation, and joint clinical meetings that provide nurses with opportunities to contribute to patient care. Regression analysis yielded p-values <0.05. Enhancing these factors is recommended to improve nursing care documentation.