Nurses frequently complain
that they spend more time charting than they do caring for patients. And, they’re
sometimes right but it doesn’t have to be that way. Patient care is important but so is the documentation of
that care. Why? Patient
documentation is crucial to discover assessment trends, determine patients’
responses to treatments, and documentation provides a means for reimbursement.
Documentation also protects nurses when bad things happen to patients (will
blog about that later!!). However, it can be frustrating when you have to
choose documentation over “caring” for your patient.
