Older nurses taking forever to computer chart

jcsbrugg · Jan 5, 2011

I am an older nurse...59. I assume the area in which you practice is your first job. With this huge spectrum of nurses in the US...your experience is only a tiny fragment of the whole. By your discirption, this older nurse "sounds like" either a poorly organized individual or one who's work ethic is not one of her priorities

Every workplace that you will participate in during your work life will have people who can be lazy, dangerous, likable and dangerous, lovely and lazy, disorganized, computer phobic etc,etc. You will wonder how the people have remained employed. Do not become one of them! It begins with feelings that you expresses in your statement. Remember theconnection with the patient comes first, then advocation for that pt, then charting. Tend to and concentrate on your OWN excellence. Most often the satisfaction with your job will have to come from internal sources. Don't judge others least you be judged. The quality of your work will be it's own reward. (by the way, I have no computer problems and can out energy many in their 30's. - Ha!). Jan

mimid213 · Jan 5, 2011

I am an "older" nurse and have no problems with electronic charting. I have, however, had problems with younger nurses' surly attitudes and time consuming bandaid changes. The younger will soon become the older and they will see how it feels when the profession discards them. The nursing profession no longer eats their young, they shun and ostracize their elders.

Artistyc1 · Jan 5, 2011

I've been working on the surgical floor for 9 months now and I'm starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of things on my unit. I've learned a lot of tips and tricks and my time management has really improved.
One thing I'm getting really frustrated with is that some of the older nurses take FOREVER to computer chart. And from my observation a lot of it comes from them not "knowing how to use a computer" the same way younger people do. To do a routine assessment on a total knee for example probably takes me 5-7 minutes, and that's not me rushing or anything and only talking about routine stuff. The same assessment would take some of these nurses anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
It's a little frustrating at times when they need help with other things because they used all their time "charting". Or when I need help but they can't help me because "If I leave this screen I might lose it and I've spent too much time on this!".
And truth be told I think maybe sometimes they're doing it on purpose because it gives the illusion of working, but that would be MEAN and I TRY to give everybody the benefit of the doubt.

Perhaps because us "old nurses" were not raised in the computer age just as you were not raised starting IV's or doing patient care.

bradleau · Jan 5, 2011

You have probably been hit with numerous responses. As an "older nurse" who works with an even older one, I feel that the forms we have to fill out to do "charting by exception" or something like that, does not fully address issues of the patient for that nurse. I love using the computers. I love using a barcode scan for the patients armband and the medication...with all the info that I need at bedside. I am not the best at typing while standing up...so usually will try to do most of my detailed work at the nurses station. Perhaps some of these nurses did not learn typing in school. I did, in high school, and in college....way before I thought about being a nurse. It really helps. I know when we went to more than order entry on the computer, several nurses left their job for fear of the unknown. I was glad to get online more. Now if we could get the doctors to put in their orders by typing them out, that would be lovely. My primary doctor does everything on her lap top, as well as computer printed RX's. She even has new patients fill out their information on a device that looks like a big etch a sketch...all touch screen. Then it is put into the system

I would suggest that you do what you can to help the older nurses. Even though I am considered the "go to" person for computer issues, and anything else that doesn't work, I was able to learn from the new nurses who had recently gone through orientation. They were taught a way of doing something that the rest of the experienced staff had not been brought up to date on.

Also you are saying you are finely getting the hang of it after nine months on the floor. To me that would be a long time. In the olden days, we had a couple of weeks, if even that to hit the floor running, working as well as the more experienced nurses.

hidesertdi · Jan 5, 2011

So much for compassion in nursing!!!. The work place is now multigenerational and this issue reflects that. The graduates coming out, you were born with computers. we, of the boomer generation, word processors were these huge machines that were at printer companies only ( and this was after high school!) Do you think we would trust our research papers to these machines? You have no idea of the work in typing papers by hand (counting the number of letters and spaces and dividing in half to correctly align the paper titles, margins, etc.). Yes, we older nurse are not as computer literate as we'd like to be, but you did not nurse in the old days when nursing behaviors were significantly different. Not an overnight task to change years of trained behavior. We all develop our own style of nursing and computer charting has significantly changed this behavior. We get just as frustrated with you young nurses who "know everything" and are going to save the world. Only time and experience can you develop the wisdom that comes with knowing what is not written in books. Many of you scare us older nurses because we know that if we try to tell you, you dismiss us because of our age and you (and unfortunately the patient) pay for your "being green". We can only pray that hopefully, you learn from your mistakes.

What this multigenerational work force needs to learn is COMPASSION. Severely lacking in our work environment (young and old).

LuLu2008 · Jan 5, 2011

OK... so we are at a standoff. Let's just determine some basic competencies as a baseline for a job and until they are learned, a person is not eligible for a raise or promotion. This could refer to not only charting by computer skills and speed but clinical tasks as well that measure speed, accuracy and professional critical thinking skills. What do you all think?????????????????

KenH · Jan 5, 2011

OP must be a charge nurse by now; they are the future of nursing

Sadly I see this all the time where I am at, all the new hires are new grads, They are the charge nurses now, because they have the skills to keep track of patients going home and new admits, they can answer the phone, call housekeeping, answer the phone to document critical lab values, and answer the phone, and on and on, they are nothing but glorified charge secretaries.

The working nurses hate them, if they discharge one they will get two new admits back to back while the future charge nurses sit and talk about how good they look, chatting up the young new doctors, Sexting, or what they just read on face book. When they do their computer charting, all they do is hit the recall button and the aids put the vitals in for them.

When the aid tells them that there is something wrong with their patient or are on the call light, they are good at calling respiratory to come assess their patient and tell what they need to do or PT to get them out of bed and into a chair.

The sorry thing is they will never learn anything more because they have run off the entire, lazy, mean, experienced nurses. The managers love them because the numbers looks great, and the patients don't know how bad there care is.

When there is a problem the family loves them for saving grandma, after they gave them to much pain meds because they were being to needy, and then had to call a rapid response when grandma wouldn't wake up at shift change, then they can bury it with paper work and give the family member or patient a gift card to fix things.

Recently I took a PALs class with one of the rising stars and charge nurse, with two whole years out of school. They were trying to show off at the equipment station and stated in front of everyone that the oral airway was what you connect the ambu bag to.......... Nobody corrected them :nurse:

AOx1 · Jan 5, 2011

I've been working on the surgical floor for 9 months now and I'm starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of things on my unit.
It's a little frustrating at times when they need help with other things because they used all their time "charting". Or when I need help but they can't help me because "If I leave this screen I might lose it and I've spent too much time on this!".

What shocks me about your posts is the attitude. It appears you believe that your way is the best and only way. All this wisdom and expertise developed over so many years.....Oh, wait, I meant NINE MONTHS.

When I was first a nurse, I valued the wisdom of experience and still do. I work with a wonderful nurse that is in her 70s and still works the floor full time after 50 years. I also have years of experience, but when I see something very unusual, I turn to her for advice, NOT the person with nine months experience on the floor. Yes, she is slower to move and slower to chart, but I wouldn't trade her wisdom for five computer literate but inexperienced nurses. She is a valuable resource on our floor.

Maybe you wouldn't even need help from these older nurses that you seem to view as slow and useless if you weren't so busy pulling their charts to monitor their activities. Why would you even want the help of a nurse you seem to view as useless and out of date? Perhaps if you instead recognized that we all have our areas of expertise and our areas in which we need to develop our skills and acted as a team member, you might see a different result. Let the management handle it if they feel that it is worth throwing away the wisdom of years of experience due to lack of rapid charting. I have managed a floor and when I needed to eliminate staff, my first pick would be those who demonstrate arrogance and a lack of teamwork not the slow charter with years of experience.

jrbl77, RN · Jan 5, 2011

I saw the title of this post and had to read on. I am one of those older nurses. Where I work now we do everything handwritten. I really look forward to the day we go computerized. I have worked at hopsitals that have used computer charting. Enough about that. When I look back at all the things I have learned since I finished nsg school I am amazed. I will admit that I consider my self computer literate, but am amazed at what I learn form my adult kids. Every day when I work I think about all the things I didn't learn to use until recently, like the fax machine and the copier. To succeed, we all need to have tolerance for others. Helping one another seems to be something that is becoming extinct.

GHGoonette, BSN, RN · Jan 5, 2011

OP must be a charge nurse by now; they are the future of nursing
Sadly I see this all the time where I am at, all the new hires are new grads, They are the charge nurses now, because they have the skills to keep track of patients going home and new admits, they can answer the phone, call housekeeping, answer the phone to document critical lab values, and answer the phone, and on and on, they are nothing but glorified charge secretaries.
The working nurses hate them, if they discharge one they will get two new admits back to back while the future charge nurses sit and talk about how good they look, chatting up the young new doctors, Sexting, or what they just read on face book. When they do their computer charting, all they do is hit the recall button and the aids put the vitals in for them.
When the aid tells them that there is something wrong with their patient or are on the call light, they are good at calling respiratory to come assess their patient and tell what they need to do or PT to get them out of bed and into a chair.
The sorry thing is they will never learn anything more because they have run off the entire, lazy, mean, experienced nurses. The managers love them because the numbers looks great, and the patients don't know how bad there care is.
When there is a problem the family loves them for saving grandma, after they gave them to much pain meds because they were being to needy, and then had to call a rapid response when grandma wouldn't wake up at shift change, then they can bury it with paper work and give the family member or patient a gift card to fix things.
Recently I took a PALs class with one of the rising stars and charge nurse, with two whole years out of school. They were trying to show off at the equipment station and stated in front of everyone that the oral airway was what you connect the ambu bag to.......... Nobody corrected them

Priceless! I do hope that's not a typo...

timkonurse · Jan 5, 2011

I am appalled at your intolerance! I have 2 questions for you-1) How long have you been a nurse?

2)At what age are you considered an "older nurse?" I am 53 years old and computer chart every day and have no problems with it! Perhaps if you are more computer savvy than your colleagues you should share your expertise with them rather than condemning them.

WE "older nurses" may not be as computer literate as younger new grads but we have much to teach you if you keep an open mind and remember that every day you work will present you with some learning opportunity.

And finally, Remember it is called the "nursing team" which means we are supposed to be working together to execute patient care as efficiently as possible.

silmas RN · Jan 5, 2011

You obviously have an abundance of time on your hands, being able to monitor your co-workers so closely. I pity your patients for the care they are not receiving.