Ever hear of "rollover charting"?

Nurses General Nursing

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Nobody ever gets out on time where I have been working (hospital). The 12 hour shifts consistently turn into 14 or 15 hours. Then sometimes the nurses have to come back the next day. Some of them have started to do what they call "rollover charting." This means they work until they are about to drop and then come back the next day and finish their charting. I personally could never do this; my memory is not that good. And what if you got sick or in an accident the next day and couldn't finish up the charting after all? Does this sound like a reasonable thing to do? :confused:

Specializes in med surg, long term care, pediatrics.

My facility gets upset if we do not finish charting before we leave and if we miss a signiture on the MAR we will be getting a phone call. So to avoid all the harrassment during my off days I try my best to complete all paperwork before I leave. I also learned how to put my phone on silent when I sleep so they dont wake me up if they call.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
Nobody ever gets out on time where I have been working (hospital). The 12 hour shifts consistently turn into 14 or 15 hours.

Why does this keep happening? I think if that issue is fixed, then the other issue doesn't exist...

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I have been a nurse for 35 years. You can imagine my shift routine has slowed down a bit over the years. But, I was taught you NEVER leave until your work is completed no matter how long it takes. I work in a Rehab, connected to an SNF. The daily routine changes with admissions, discharges, family questions/requests, PT/OT family meetings etc...You can be 100% sure when I leave, ALL my work is complete.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Wow... Sounds like flirting with disaster, at least from a legal standpoint... And what if a provider needed current charting to help with a treatment decision? Bad, bad, bad...

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not a good practice I know but the reality is that it is happening. I have seen it in the hospital but even more so in the nursing homes. Personally I think being expected to do meds, treatments and charting for 20 patients is unreasonable and why it happens. In the LTC I saw charting that was pathetic, or not done at all or late, treatments not done, meds missed.....20 patients is wayyyy to many. In the hospital setting I think when you have too many patients this can happen too. I know when I was working inpatient psych 10 notes was a lot and I stayed late often. They got rid of the pathway style charting like a month or two after I started and went to all hand written notes. That made things worse. The care pathwayswere so much faster with mostly circling and checking things and you would only end up writing an actual note a maybe a couple pts per shift--those that had problems. They got rid of them beccause apparently people were rushing through them so fast they were not accurate. But I think that kind of charting helps to be more efficient.

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It amazes me how I can go into work and when I get off in the AM I log into All Nurses and see a post that directly relates to my last worked shift.

I had "one of those" nights. Everything was going well and then in the space of two hours 2 falls, an employee injury (which I completely botched by not knowing all the companies protocols). So I pushed off my charting, grabbed the fall packets and started making phone calls like a madman.

My unit is currently 55 patients and at night its 1 RN, 1 QMA, and 2 CNA's. By the time I finished the packets, made all needed phone calls, finished all treatments i had put on hold to deal with falls, the continuing neuo checks etc it was an hour past clock out time.

They have really started pushing the Nurses to clock out on time, with threats of write ups etc and I have been really proud of myself that in 3 weeks of working as a new nurse graduate that I could get my time down to no later then half an hour past.

Today I left at a hour and half past and just did my hot charting and the charting on the 2 falls but still had 26 charts to chart in. I was burnt, I was tired, and I honestly didnt know if I could chart accurately at that point. My plan is to go in tonite for my shift and get report then pull all of my charts from today and late entry as much as I can.

I in no way plan to make this a habit, to me this is just an emergency patch to still meet my charting obligations and I hope and pray I never have to even consider it again.

I get torn on charting early in my shift (the "ya never know what can happen" aspect bothers me, but I guess I should consider it like an above poster does after assessments..if nothing happens that chart is done..if something happens start a new entry).

Any other speed charting advice please comment on.

Thnx

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Not a good thing go do.

I've been known to do a late note or two.

24 patients in a ltc. A few admits, an incident and orders out the ears. I stay late to finish the major important charting but that note that I have to write on a shower or weekly note...that isn't getting done. Yeah, you might say it will only take you a few more minutes to do that, but when you are an hr plus after.....

A late note put in the chart according to your policy would be more appropriate than "rolling" (I'm not even sure what roll over charting is)

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Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.

i have never heard the term "rollover charting." i have on extremely rare occasions when i remember something the next shift i work with a patient or wish to compare their physical assessment to my own assessment 24 hours earlier will document it as such. sort of like "pt having greater dyspnea with adl tasks today as when under my care this same shift on xyz date. tires getting up to bedside commode with respirations 35 and labored when could perform task yesterday under my care and respirations were within baseline of 18-20 for same pt."

i only tended to do this when i needed to provide a reference point. but it clarifies the date and rational for using a past time. i used it in ltc and also in home health care when i made more than one visit per week or whatever on the same patient. there used to be a great many things that would show a declining status in home care and it was important to provide the doctor with those assessment dates.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

OP here. I was amazed and confused to hear of the new rollover charting. The nurses said that "someone" told them they had up to 3 days to do their charting, so sometimes they wait until they have a day off and then do it. I think it is an absolutely terrible idea. But to the person who said time management skills ought to improve, that might be true if it was 10% or 25% or even 50% of the nurses. The truth is, it's virtually every nurse in the facility running into overtime every shift. There are so many requirements and added forms and extra this and thats that it's torture even to try to remember all the things that are supposed to be charted, let alone do them. And you no sooner get a discharge out the door (with charting left to do) than there's an admit piling into the same room with tons of new paperwork there too. I asked the evening supervisor last week if there is anyone in the house (almost 300 bed hospital) who got out on time and she said "Very few, very few." I have recently given up trying to do routine charting on anyone at all until the next shift gets there. Most of this charting is pretty unnecessary but there are major ramifications from the army of QA commanders if it's not there by the time they review it. Who does all this paperwork benefit? It doesn't make things safer for the patient.

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