Categories: Scrubs

Do you make these 3 common charting mistakes?

2. Do you fail to record absolutely everything you do for a patient?
You change a dressing. Do you record it, along with your observations about the wound? You follow an order to give a patient medication. Do you record that you have given the medication? If you don’t record what you do, and then your shift ends and you leave, think about the position in which you’re putting the next nurse.

Don’t put off charting. Do it as soon as possible after you carry out an action. Sure, it takes time and you’re busy, but charting the care you give is as important as providing the care.

Next: Do you assume that if it’s not charted, it’s not done? â†’

Page: 1 2 3

Cynthia Dusseault

Cynthia Dusseault is a professional freelance writer with both a health and an education background. A former medical radiation technologist and elementary school teacher, she realized that no matter what she did, she was drawn to any task that involved writing, so she decided, over a decade ago, to write full-time. Since then, she has written for a variety of magazines and websites including Nursing PRN, National Review of Medicine, University Affairs, Your Health, Education Leaders Today, Today's Parent, Children's Playmate, WeightWatchers.ca and many more. She has written about topics such as asthma, genital herpes, circumcision, teleradiology, body art, learning disabilities and exercise trends, and she absolutely adores the fact that writing—particularly doing the research for the articles she writes—makes her a lifelong learner.