Nursing Documentation

Have you read Charting Made Incredibly Easy? I skimmed through it at the bookstore not too long ago and it seemed helpful. I suggest you go to your local bookstore and check it out. Here's a link for amazon.com that shows the cover of the book. Hope it helps.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158...923363?ie=UTF8

Actually, thank you But, I figured it out and it isn't even as hard as I thought. I was just stressed out. My professor told me to carry a little notebook with me to write things down as I go and that made the world of a difference.
Thanks for the advice.

There is a nursing history and physical assessment form for students that you can down download from these links at this web site. You can use this form to help you gather data prior to charting.

• http://healthscience.cypresscollege.edu/~rn/rnforms.shtml

One of my clinical teachers told us to get a pocket sized notebook. This way, if you are going through a pt chart and like the way something is worded you can write it down in your notebook. The next time you are doing documentation and can't think of the correct way to word something, you can pull out your notebook and see if you have something that helps you. I did this for my 1st med-surg rotation and found it to be very helpful, and it's cheaper than buying another book.

Well if it is a soap note. Then you start with what the patient states. What you observe, Your assessment, The Plan.

A narrative would you indicate the important stats from your shift. Do you have a chapter in your Fundamentals Book that gives you examples of documentation.

for example - totally fabricated

S " The pain is unbearable."
O b/p 160/95, grimacing face, HR 112,
A Pain r/t s/p op aeb grimacing and complaints of pain 9/10.
P Treat patient with 5 mg oxycodone po and reassess pain scale.

Good luck. Just takes practice

You chart your nurses note based exactly what you found in your assessment data in the style your instructors have told you to chart. Nothing more. Nothing less. Based on what you've written, you should have had assessments of the lung and abdomen in your charting. Whether you are to chart by exception or everything you observed, it doesn't matter. You just write up what you discovered in examination. What did you find with your lung assessment? Cough? Nature of respirations? Lung sounds? What did you find with your abdominal assessment? Any pain with palpation? Any asymmetry of the abdomen? Any abdominal distention? Bowel sounds? A liver abscess is usually going to be found on a radiology exam of some kind, not usually by a physical exam. If you are worried that you somehow failed to detect this liver abscess, put that idea out of your mind right now. You are not a doctor and that is not in your realm of practice.

Great resource (very thorough):

Practice Standard: Documentation from College of Nurses of Ontario.

PowerPoint:

Chapter 17: Documenting, Reporting, and Conferring

Charting made incredibly easy, you can find it also on Ebay.

“Ladies & gentleman of the jury, I present … the nursing documentation”

http://www.nursingcenter.com/prodev/...asp?tid=622257