chart thinning

Oh my goodness this is such a hugh problem in my facility. The charts are so thick you cant open them. From what our medical record lady says you have to keep a certain amount of each thing in the chart like 1 year of physican notes and 6 months nursing notes . Now Im not 100% sure on the length of time each thing has to be in the chart but I know this, they are full . They have started using secong charts for people and it helps..some. Now we are faced with searching through several charts to get the info but at least all of the papers are not scattered all over the floor each time we open the chart.....lol

PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR LTC HEALTH INFORMATION AND RECORD SYSTEMS
http://www.ahima.org/infocenter/guidelines/ltcs/4.1.asp

Scroll down to Common Forms and Thinning Guidelines. A chart categorizes record thinning.

At the LTC that I work at, we need to keep two years worth of medical and psych information in the chart.