Older nurses taking forever to computer chart

Nurses General Nursing

Published

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. :uhoh3:

To the ones saying they're making extra notes or doing a more detailed version, all I can say is that is not the case in my situation. I know because I've been curious about this for a while so when I'm doing my montly random chart audits I've made a point to pull certain pts that have had X or Y nurse for several days and I've combed through EVERYTHING paper and computer. They most certainly are not taking a longer time because they're doing a more detailed job.

I know I'm venting and it is NOT fair to generalized. I was just wondering if anybody else had the same frustrations as me. Maybe I'm just stuck with some LAZY nurses that are stuck in their ways.

I can chart pretty fast (an assessment in 3 minutes or less) and when I see the other nurses sitting around, catching up on their charting when the early am lull comes, I wonder what the heck they are spending so much time on that I didn't? Are they filling in things I wasn't shown to do? We all got the same computer training, but everyone else seems to be busier charting than me. I haven't gotten dinged by management, so I must be doing it right. Computer charting is so much easier than using a flowchart :).

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Exactly. Older nurses are more likely to use the added sections for notes. Not just the drop down menu. We know the importance of charting to CYA in case of law suit or in case a complaint is sent to the board of nursing.

Please don't tell me that at 34 you consider yourself an older nurse :eek:!

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I don't see how I'm suppose to "help" somebody chart faster. It's something they do every time they come into work. You'd think they'd have gotten the hang of it by now. I could probably do it with my eyes closed.

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Specializes in Hospice.
They're random in the sense that there's no specific rhyme or reason as to why one chart is chosen over the other, but we're actively encouraged to pull charts that we think something might be wrong or funny about. Since, at the time I pulled said charts, I didn't have any suspicious that'd superseded the reasons I pulled the charts I pulled. Side note I think I got a small incentive bonus because of the number of charts I audited that month :D.

So your manager told you to target particular nurses' charts?

Hmph! There's more going on with this unit than slow charting!

So, how do you propose to solve the problem?

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
They're random in the sense that there's no specific rhyme or reason as to why one chart is chosen over the other, but we're actively encouraged to pull charts that we think something might be wrong or funny about. Since, at the time I pulled said charts, I didn't have any suspicious that'd superseded the reasons I pulled the charts I pulled. Side note I think I got a small incentive bonus because of the number of charts I audited that month :D.

No, they're not random.. You're deliberately picking charts of nurses you have a beef with. Hardly random. Your post here contradicts your other post.

Although, good on you, that because of your crusade against the older nurses you wound up getting a bonus for it. :uhoh3::uhoh3:

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So your manager told you to target particular nurses' charts?

Hmph! There's more going on with this unit than slow charting!

So, how do you propose to solve the problem?

Well for one thing they could simply work faster, freeing up their time so they won't need me to "help" them every other round. So I'm suppose to do my own charting, meds, dressing changes, and task but they do not? They get a "free pass" because they take longer than normal to chart. I'm being polite when I say "normal" it would be almost proper to say they take "longer than reasonable".

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.
Small font?Edit and increase the font.Hope that helps.

It is a default font, and we do print off some things (like admissions, which are about 10 pages IN THE SMALL FONT). And only those with "access" can change anything like that on the charting program. It's not like your computer at home.

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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
I think it is difficult to impossible for younger generation people to understand just what a leap it has been for those of us who grew up and were educated before the existence of home computers. They take the tool for granted in the same way we would picking up a pen or a telephone. When we were in school computers were something that took up entire buildings at a university and were only seen in pictures in Life Magazine.

I can deal with computer charting but will always mutter under my breath and take more time than the "youngsters". And I do have a sneaking suspicion that many I deal with are remote descendants of HAL! (If you get that reference you are probably as old as I am).

I'm in my early- mid 30s and perhaps towards the 'leading edge' age wise of ' kids who grew up with computers' certainly the computer ( BBC B or Master) in the class room was routine part of my primary education and my secondary school had in the early 1990s full class sized BBC master network, a 50 + station Acorn A5000 room and a small ish (10 or 12 machine) WindowsfWG network plus a growing number of 'clusters' of computers across the site ( a CAD/CAM cluster in the design and technology building, a scanning and image manipulation cluster in the graphic design room, a cluster of machines in the science block and a few set up for datalogging etc )

The internet and the WWW were beginning to happen on a general basis and certainly by the time i went to unversity the first time in the mid 1990s email and the web was becoming the de facto method of communicating around the uni.

so what does this mean , it means my peers and those who are younger than me are people who are natives of the information technolgy age and those older are only ever ( unless part of the lucky people who were early adopters) going to be a someone who 'computers' are a second language language instead of a native tongue ...

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Specializes in Hospice.
Well for one thing they could simply work faster, freeing up their time so they won't need me to "help" them every other round. So I'm suppose to do my own charting, meds, dressing changes, and task but they do not? They get a "free pass" because they take longer than normal to chart. I'm being polite when I say "normal" it would be almost proper to say they take "longer than reasonable".

You haven't even defined the problem. Are they slower because they don't type fast? Because they can't see the monitor well? Because they don't understand the program? And it is, indeed, your problem to solve ... you're the one complaining, after all!

If you choose not to help them yourself, that still does not mean that you can't take steps to solve the problem. A little root cause analysis would probably be more productive than the "neener, neener, I'm faster than you" approach you're taking now.

On the other hand, your boast about your bonuses might shed a little light your hidden agenda ... can we say "quisling"? Collecting a little mojo with the higher-ups by helping them torpedo older ... and more expensive ... staff can grease the skids to a higher rank. Careful though ... karma's a beotch.

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Specializes in Phlebotomist, nursing student.

Do said "old nurses" have a fairly high pay rate? At least compared to "young nurses"? Could management be looking for young nurses to go after old nurses (who cost more) in a sneaky, behind the back kind of way?

So you chart faster. Who do you think gives better, more skilled patient care? In an emergency involving your Mom, would you want an experienced nurse, or a freshly graduated one? What is the most important thing on your floor - patients or computers?

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You haven't even defined the problem. Are they slower because they don't type fast? Because they can't see the monitor well? Because they don't understand the program?

If you choose not to help them yourself, that still does not mean that you can't take steps to solve the problem. Try a little root cause analysis. It would probably be more productive than the "neener, neener" approach you're taking now, bonuses notwithstanding.

And it's your problem ... after all, you're the one complaining!

Again, if you choose not to try to solve the problem, one wonders about your real agenda.

I have thought of a solution. A timed computer competency test. So if somebody passes it but then still takes a long time charting then you know they COULD go faster but they simply choose not to. Think of all the advantages of going slow, mainly that you look busy when you're not and then you can con people into doing some of your job for you.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.
I have thought of a solution. A timed computer competency test. So if somebody passes it but then still takes a long time charting then you know they COULD go faster but they simply choose not to. Think of all the advantages of going slow, mainly that you look busy when you're not and then you can con people into doing some of your job for you.

By your own admission you had enough "extra" tiime to do so many audits you got a bonus......who was doing patient care while you were doing audits? Did you bother to go in and spend a little extra time with a patient since you had so much time to spare? I refuse to make the computer the number one priority. My patients come first. Period.

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