Abbreviations!!!!

[Traveler]

Have all of the changes in abbreviations sent anyone else over the edge? In the "old days" we took a whole class on all of these crazy abbreviations, finally got used to them, and now we can't use half of them. I am finding it's a very hard habit to break. Every time I go into the office I have a stack of papers that the clerical staff asks me to fix saying that the abbreviations aren't accepted that I'm using. I think they would prefer that I just write everything out, but I don't have the time with all of the paperwork we are expected to do. When I looked up some of the ones they asked me to change, they were still on the "acceptable" list. Anyone else dealing with this?

[renerian, BSN, RN]

Traveler yes it can be frustrating on the changes with documentation. Grab a copy of their abbreviation policy for the agency and use that list. It will save you alot of headaches.

renerian

[SFCardiacRN]

Sounds like not using abrev.'s at all would be more economical than re-doing all your paperwork.

[homehealth43130]

JCAHO put in a list of "do not use" abbreviations in their 2005 safety goals. If you are a JCAHO certified agency, then you must follow their standards. It is a hard habit to break and took months of auditing charts and sending back records for correction. Even now an unacceptable abbreviation slips through.

Good luck.