Care plans

Do you mean like skin grossly intact, moist mucous membranes, turgor WNL?

My instructor told me not to write WNL [emoji30]

So I'm really stuck here

If the gait is wnl what other way can I describe it ? Ambulated without assistance ?

Gait steady, smooth & coordinated. Smooth associated movement of upper extremeties. Able to walk __ feet continuously unassisted.

Skin turgor--no tenting, no edema.

Normal gait is "rhythmic, coordinated and characterized by alternating propulsive and retropulsive movements of the lower extremeties." (Can't pull link)

I agree with Justbeachy. My instructors prefer gait steady and coordinated. 'Ambulates independently' is acceptable in my program also. I also document skin turgor as elastic. That's the way I was taught. We can't use WNL either. Hope this helps.

Instead of saying WNL, describe the findings. You don't have to go overboard with a description of every freckle though. Just write a picture.

Skin- grossly intact, moist mucus membranes, skin turgor elastic. No edema observed.

Gait: steady & coordinated, able to independently ambulate down hallway without stopping

Normal gait is "rhythmic, coordinated and characterized by alternating propulsive and retropulsive movements of the lower extremeties." (Can't pull link)

Yep, that is exactly what I write for my muscoloskeletal assessment.

Lol. Actually what I really do is click off the appropriate check boxes, which is what you will likely do in real life too.

Being too logorrheic is not any better than just writing WNL. (just beachy, I know you were pulling a definition, not an actual chart entry, not picking on you at all!)

Thank u all