Documenting is of vital importance in nursing in order to be able provide high-quality services to patients. This is a way of communication, informing all medical staff on the type of nursing and care a patient has received and on the patient himself. Furthermore, by keeping records, it is possible to meet legal and technical standards.

For these reasons, the Division of Nursing at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana initiated the Project on the documenting of nursing processes to all the departments. The project was designed for a multiphase implementation. Documenting was started in September 2004 in two departments for inpatient care (H1 and H2) that were then open at the Institute. The work progresses reasonably well as one registered or trained nurse is keeping records of only one patient. Step by step, more patients will be included. The problems are usually solved as they arise. In 2005, documenting will be introduced at all departments that will be moved to the new building of the Institute of Oncology.

In order to obtain some uniformity of work in nursing, appropriate standardization of work processes should be made. The standardization is also one of the key conditions of quality control of performance. Thus, standards, guidelines, and recommendations are obligatory reading material that all newly employed nurses are provided with on taking up the post.

The standards are designed within smaller work teams. Each team evaluates new facts and findings in the field to be dealt with by the standard and formulates the standard according to the "evidence based nursing" methodology which is applicable to the practice at the Institute of Oncology. The draft of the standard is first presented to Nursing Board and Medical Board of the Institute of Oncology and, when adopted, the standard is presented also to the employees. The personnel applying the new standard in practice and evaluating its efficacy is given full support and motivation. So far, altogether 53 standards and recommendations have been adopted.

At the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, performance quality control in nursing and care of patients has been systematically carried out since the year 2000. In order to facilitate this task, quality control indicators have been elaborated.

In 2004, 18 quality control indicators of nursing performance and 19 quality control indicators of informing and communicating with the patients and their relatives were evaluated, and an inquiry about the satisfaction of the patients with board and lodging was also carried out.

The categorization of nursing is applied as a means of evaluation of patients’ needs for nursing; from the obtained results, the overload of the personnel with work may be calculated, and thereby also the needs for employing new cadres.

From 2002 onwards, the nurses of the Institute of Oncology are members of an operational group of a College for Categorization Uniformity of Complexity of Nursing in Slovenian Hospitals. As a result of this membership is the elaboration of a specific categorization of oncology nursing, supplemented by the measures of general Slovenian categorization; the complexity of oncology nursing has thus become comparable.

Further development of nursing at the Institute of Oncology is to a great extent dependent on the research in the field of nursing as well as of management in nursing and health care.

The research work should be designed to allow the transfer of upgraded and organized knowledge into practice. The research is conducted through applied investigations on management, nursing and performance quality control from the point of view nursing services users.

Nosocomial or hospital acquired infections develop during hospitalization or medical care of a patient in hospital. The patients with weak immune response and those undergoing invasive treatment modalities are particularly at risk to acquire hospital infection.

Hospital infection may delay the treatment, impair its effect and put the patient’s health and life at risk due to unforeseen medical complications.

Prevention and control of hospital acquired infection is a binding commitment of every health care worker included in the treatment process and of every health-care organization; they need to take adequate measures in order to ease the burden of these infection.