Bedside charting?! Is this the new norm? VENT!

Nurses General Nursing

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We will soon be losing our nurses station where our desktops are located and will have to start using computers in the room to do bedside charting. I'm having very mixed emotions about this. We do not have COWs as the computers in the rooms are wall mounted and our back is toward the patient.

Is bedside charting becoming the norm? To me, it's very helpful to my feet and my sanity to be able to get off my feet for just minutes during the day to be able to sit and chart. Charting at the bedside when visitors are present, when patients are trying to sleep, causing us to stand even more just doesn't make good sense. Most the nurses on our floor are VERY unhappy about this change. There may be several nurses looking for another job. In fact, I've heard some nurses say "it's time to get out of here!"

I truly wish that it was a requirement for management to work in our shoes at least a week out of a year to see what we endure on a daily basis. Instead, they sit on their bottoms all day in meetings making new rules without consulting those of us that poor out the blood sweat and tears while performing our job every day!!

Specializes in ER, progressive care.

In my hospital's ICU, we have wall computers in every room so some nurses will do bedside charting, but we also have a nurse's station with computers there as well. On my floor, we have 2 nurse's stations along with COWs for every nurse. Bedside charting is nice if I have a patient who is confused or someone I need to keep a closer eye on, otherwise I leave the room and go back to the station to chart. I wouldn't like the standing part.

Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.

First of all, who has 15- 20 minutes to just chart in a patient's room when you are being pulled in 15 different directions all at the same time. What do managers think we do? Go in give meds and assess patient and then chart on them and systematically move on to the next. Meds would be late for one thing on the other patients and are we really going to stay and chart at the bedside when our other patietnt's need us. Patient care comes first and charting second.

The only way to chart in real time or at the bedside is to have one or two patients max. I am sick and tired and ticked off that those that make up these crazy rules have no idea what it is like to be a nurse.

Bedside charting is tolerable only when 1. the computers actually work and 2. you have the option to chart in the hallways or nurses station.

Sometimes if the patient is non verbal and there is no family around, a quiet patient room is more efficient for charting since there is less noise and distraction in there.

Otherwise, I am more efficient charting in the hallway.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

You do know that You will eventually have to go computerized. It's a federal mandate. The deadline was 2012 but was moved to 2014. :hug:

http://solari.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/hitstrategicplan020309.pdf

Bedside charting.....hummmm......workable but not entirely feasible. I can see, maybe, just doing an electronic check list assessment that might take a couple of minutes......but entire charting at the bedside? I think it will drive the care givers insane, increase the incidence of compassion fatigue, and patient complaints. I can read them now.

"That nurse just stood there for 20 minutes and never even looked at ME! She stood there with their back turned....HOW RUDE!":madface: " I needed.....help, pain med, water, blanket....and she IGNORED ME:bluecry1:" That will increase the satisfaction scores....:banghead:.....NOT!

I wish I could tell you that if you complained they would listen......but I can't. Administrations right now are kind of running wild and nurse satisfaction is NOT the priority.....although it has been proved time and time again the nurse satisfaction leads to higher patient satisfaction, positive outcomes and decreased infection rates.

When I was a manager I would work the floor and on every shift especially after a new policy/mandate was instituted to actually see if it was possible. I would then return with constructive feedback so improve the system.....it drove my husband NUTS (more time away from the fam) and no I received no compensation..... it took up a lot of time. My units ran like clock work because of the staff and the nurses were happy .........which made the patients very happy.:doh:Duh....

Write your thoughts on paper like suggesting that a quick checklist assessment be done at the bedside, write it out and get it out of your system......VENT...... get it out on paper and when it sounds reasonable that is what you will say to your boss. Then.... Go as a group to your boss with valid points and solutions. Like charting a basic checklist assessment at the bedside but the meat and bones assessment and charting away form the patient even if in a mobile station AKA COWS. But give you the opportunity to not be standing for your entire shift and give you an opportunity to have some reprieve from the patient/family.

Unfortunately....administrations are not "into" listening to nurses these days even though it has been proved time and time again that Nurse satisfaction is directly linked to lower infection rates and increase patient/customer satisfaction. Fools...:mad:

I hope this helps some. And they wonder why there is such a turn over especially amongst new grads.....Jeez :banghead:

Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

All I could think was, "gee, that paranoid schizophrenic in for medical clearance is gonna LOVE that..."

I think the biggest challenge would be the "chatty Kathy" type patients.....you start charting and they keep interrupting you....so your 5 min of charting becomes 20! Ugh.

I did clinicals at a hospital that had bedside computers, but the nurses simply used those for the computerized drug pass. The pharmacy had a basket of the person's meds locked in with the computer. You unlocked the station, opened the eMAR, scanned the patient's wrist band and then each med. Passed the meds, locked the computer and left. There were computers in the nurses station that they used for assessment charting after the med pass was done.

For me, I have been doing paper charting. I hate it because I have long since done away with writing anything by hand! (I spent 18 yrs in IT.) I know I could chart in half the time because I can type a gadzillion words a minute while carrying on a separate conversation (my kids used to be amazed at my ability to do this....LOL)! I am personally looking forward to going to computerized charting....I guess I'll have to see how it works out someday in the near future.

Specializes in Rehab, critical care.

Why are you losing your nurse's station? And, what's their rationale for this change? If you don't know or they haven't explained it yet, ask. And, then politely explain your reasons for not wanting bedside charting, explaining that it will increase the need for incidental overtime, and they will lose money as nurses will have to stay late to finish the work they couldn't do during their shift lol. I wouldn't want it either. They had that where I trained in school, but nobody used it. We all used the computers at the nurse's station. You can't get anything done. The patient will talk to you or ask you for things continually. We have COWS where I work, and it's nice having your own computer, not having to fight for one.

Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

Chatty family members can make me crazy. Not long ago I had a 5 pm admit for a 6 pm c/section. Now, IMHO, that is nuts already, if only because our admission q and a must have 500 questions on it. Things appear from time to time, such as Canavans disease. Even one of our family practice docs had to look that one up, but there it is and it's on our "have you or any of your family members ever had" list.This particular patient had a spouse who was deep into Internet research and my admission was frequently interrupted by his questions. And to get those good feedback numbers I had to take time from my job and answer them....each of which triggered another question.Which gets me back to charting at the bedside: distractions.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

We do ours at the bedside, but that is the norm in ICU I think, at least at our hospital. Our floors also have a computer in each room, but there are a few scattered around the outside unit for the docs to use. The point of it is to do real time charting. I find it easier to chart there than try to find a computer somewhere else, esp if it is really busy.We do it on our peds floors when we float, it doesn't seem to bother the kids or parents who stay there. Most places are doing this.

We also learned to type and talk at the same time lol Parents are at the bedsides and ask us stuff while we are charting and usually since you are in the chart you can look stuff up for them...then they aren't asking you 50 questions from across the room. We have never had a complain that our back was to them...I think they know we have to be like that...but we do apologize to them. And even the most hard core complainers don't take offense :)

Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele.

I think that you should give it a chance! Change makes people uncomfortable.

I think that management will have to listen to the nursing staff feedback about the change, so try the new set up and give constructive feedback and suggestions to management. Maybe you could suggest hallway work-stations like the ones that RockinChick66 talked about.

Good luck to you. I hope that the switch is not as bad as you anticipate!!!

I wish I could tell you that if you complained they would listen......but I can't. Administrations right now are kind of running wild and nurse satisfaction is NOT the priority.....although it has been proved time and time again the nurse satisfaction leads to higher patient satisfaction, positive outcomes and decreased infection rates.

I've been saying this for years (didn't know it was backed up by factual data) and have found it to be one of the more frustrating things about the nursing profession today.

We do charting at the bedside (computers mounted to the wall, but we can move them around to face whichever direction we want). We have no chairs, so we never sit down in our 8.5 shift (lunch excepted). You get used to it. The first two weeks I worked there, I would have excruciating back pain starting around mid-shift as my back muscles were not used to having to hold myself up for that long at a time. Just like any muscles, however, they become stronger with use.

Now my feet are a different story...

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