A quality improvement project looking at improving the documentation of bowel charts in a geriatrics department

Introduction

Effective bowel care is a key part of patient care which involves the accurate documentation of bowel movements. Older patients are at higher risk of delirium and increased length of stay if constipation and diarrhoea are not recognised. We aimed to identify the quality of bowel chart documentation comparing the use of paper and electronic bowel charts.

Methods

Data was collected on whether bowel charts were filled in at two timepoints over a two-day period. The first cycle in September 2020 using paper bowel charts and the second cycle in June 2023 using electronic bowel charts. All inpatients, on the geriatric wards were included unless they were on end-of-life care or had moved ward on the day of data collection.

The primary outcome was whether the bowel charts for both days were filled in fully. Secondary outcomes were whether the bowel charts were ‘easy to find’ and whether there was reference in the notes to the bowel chart. Data was analysed using a Mann-Whitney test.

Results

In the first cycle data was analysed on 129 inpatients, 4 were excluded and in the second cycle data was assessed on 128 inpatients, 16 were excluded.

Conclusion This quality improvement project shows how the introduction of electronic bowel charts has had a significant improvement in the charts being filled out and easy to find.