how to write a good nurses note

Well it would depend on what the resident it being charted on. For example a resident is on an abt for a uti, you would want to focus on: are they having any reaction to abt, are they continuing to have symptoms of uti, that you're encouraging fluids and if the resident is accepting. Ex: "Mary continues on abt therapy for uti with no adverse effects noted. Burning upon urination has subsided. Fluids are being encouraged intake 1500cc, output x6. T 98.4, p60, r 18, bp 120/60." I always tell my nurses to document as if you're painting a picture. Describe the situation or resident as if a stranger were reading the chart and you want them to know what you've observed.

Im still working on my charting, its not that great yet. One thing I notice with the medicare charting is that they ask for things that I may not witness because they are ADL's or acceptance of Food, etc. Sometimes I read back on what other Nurses have written so that I can see good examples of charting. My biggest problem is even having time for charting at end of shift. Cant clock out late and no charting off the clock. One hall has at least 9 medicare charts. Then there are the careplans, etc.

Wow really you can't stay late? Sometimes I have Medicare charting on 13 or so people and most of the time, I can only do a couple notes during my shift. I'm usually there for a hour or so charting afterwards.

I see a lot of posts on this subsection talking about care plans. In my opinion, care planning is the responsibility of the unit manager or other admin. It's ridiculous to expect the pill pushing floor nurse to do care plans on top of pill pushing, treatments, and charting. I guess it depends on the staffing model, but if you have no admissions/treatment nurse, med tech, etc., it's not a reasonable expectation given the typical patient load.

Like it was stated earlier - what is the reason they are being charted on? Was there an incident? Anitbiotics? Monthly charting?

Our Medicare charting is on a checklist. So I check the appropriate boxes and flip it over to write nurses notes. If there was nothing unusual then I follow our 'guidelines' for MDS charting. The guidelines have what our MDS nurse says must be charted on. I memorized it as basically this...

VS - mental status - senses - eating - body/bed - bowels - skin

An example of my MDS charting might be...
"97.9 - 83 - 146/83 - 20 - 96% SAT on RA, resp. even and unlabored s SOB, A/O with confusion s c/o distress, medicated for pain prior to PT/OT c + effect, friendly with staff and compliant with care, hearing and vision adequate c glasses, feeds self in DR with moderate appetite - consumes >75% of most meals, takes meds whole s difficulty, assist x 1 c transfers and ADLs, able to t/r self in bed c 1/2 SR ^ x 2 c assit x 2 to pull up in bed, cont. of B/B c occ. incont. episodes c care provided q2° and PRN, skin W/D s brkdown"

"97.9 - 83 - 146/83 - 20 total care for all needs D/T generalized weakness and cognitive issues, alert with eyes open, unable to voice needs, facial grimacing and moaning noted - medicated for pain c + results, ABT prophylactic s adverse reations r/t recent oral surgery, hearing and vision adequate, P/T patent and infusing @ 50ml/hr x 22 hr per day day c 150ml flush per shift, assist x 1 for ADLs and t/r, assist x 2 c transfers via hoyer lift, F/C patent and draining to gravity c clear, yellow urine, incont. of bowel c care provided q2° and PRN, skin w/d s brkdwn"

Other than MDS charting - I would focus on the reason they are being charted on. When I have a lot of charting then I keep it brief. When I have less charting then I elaborate a little more.