<p>The main purpose of this essay is to study the role of documentation in Swedish health care today and the consequences of the augmentations in paper work that have taken place during the last couple of decades. The method used in this study is interviews with health care personnel.</p><p>The following questions are treated:</p><p>-       What kind of documentation has increased in Swedish health care?</p><p>-       How is the patient/health care professionals affected?</p><p>-       How is the work of the health care professionals affected?</p><p>The conclusion of the essay is that the increasing amount of time spent on documentation that for much part has never been performed before, (such as risk analyses, statistics and writing much more thorough charts), has consequently left very little time for actual patient care. The research also showed that faith in health care professionals has significantly decreased and that one of the major reasons for increased documenting is the anticipation of and therefore protection against potential complaints. Finally there seems to be a greater focus on being service-minded rather than on providing quality health care.</p>

The main purpose of this essay is to study the role of documentation in Swedish health care today and the consequences of the augmentations in paper work that have taken place during the last couple of decades. The method used in this study is interviews with health care personnel. The following questions are treated: -       What kind of documentation has increased in Swedish health care? -       How is the patient/health care professionals affected? -       How is the work of the health care professionals affected? The conclusion of the essay is that the increasing amount of time spent on documentation that for much part has never been performed before, (such as risk analyses, statistics and writing much more thorough charts), has consequently left very little time for actual patient care. The research also showed that faith in health care professionals has significantly decreased and that one of the major reasons for increased documenting is the anticipation of and therefore protection against potential complaints. Finally there seems to be a greater focus on being service-minded rather than on providing quality health care.