do you chart vent settings?

[bigreddog1934]

i feel like this may be a no brainer for the more experienced here, but i had an icu nurse really dig into me about this the other day. i almost never have charted these and its only been an issue recently. does it vary from hospital to hospital?

[meandragonbrett]

Yes, I chart my vent settings, respiratory assessment, and Vt qhour.

[MassED, BSN, RN]

i feel like this may be a no brainer for the more experienced here, but i had an icu nurse really dig into me about this the other day. i almost never have charted these and its only been an issue recently. does it vary from hospital to hospital?

If I have a patient on a vent, absolutely do I chart the settings.... absolutely.

[MassED, BSN, RN]

We do; some in my unit chart settings in multiple locations.

This brings up a concern fir me; can a nurse chart too much? I mean , if respiratory charts it and I chart in a separate location but someone makes a typo, does this suspicion when something goes wrong and the chart is audited. If it is that error prone, should vent settings be cosigned like a dangerous drug instead of recharted?

I fear everyday that repetitive charting is putting my license at risk.

Sorry if a little off topic.

but how do you know exactly what RT is charting? They don't chart in our documentation in the ER, so it's best to chart what you know or occurs while in the ER. That's your patient, so chart what you know - who cares if it's redundant.

[LilgirlRN, ADN, RN]

I'd chart the size of the tube, the cm's it's taped at, the vent settings and O2 sat on these settings, also breath sounds etc.

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

If we tube-during whole flow start to finish actions noted with vitals-I always include ordered initial settings and request that our respiratory update me if anything is changed. You can't imagine how you can hear the same thing differently-we concur and confirm.

No requirement though, and not everyone does it....I've had settings changed by someone? so I don't take any chances.

Maisy

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

I chart vent settings when we intubate someone, change the settings, and when the patient leaves the ER.

Ditto that - along with a note about ETT cm mark at lip.

cheers,