Computer Charting

It's a pain in the you know what. I worked at a place that had it and found it very time consuming.

It is time consuming, and a pain, but im afraid its here to stay. You just have to be diligent about either making sure you time your written notes to put in later on a backdate/time or make sure you have a computer available when you need to put in an entry.

I love our computer charting. I can't stand the other floors in the hospital that use paper charting. But I work in the ICU and my computer is sitting right outside each patient's room. So while I'm charting (there aren't a million forms to open up...it's all in one program and I can them at a glance), I can be checking my patient. The paper charting I found redundant (you charted the same damn thing in more than place and I think that opens up the chance something will be overlooked). I can do my Interdisciplinary Progress Notes whenever I want (I usually put in something q 2 hr), and I can get my charting done for 2 patients in about 15-20 minutes, depending on how critical they are. All our titrated drips are on the computer, as are the I/O, restraints, etc. I have read about other types of computer programs and figure we must be using a really user-friendly program.

Melanie = )

I have never experienced computer charting until this year. I worked at one hospital where it was great! Everything was basically right there.

I am now at a hospital that has an old program and I think it is awful! I am having a very hard time keeping up with all of the pages. The most difficult thing for me is coordinating my care for patients (6-8) throughout the day and finding time to be at the computer to chart everything on them. When I got home last night, I realized that I had not charted some things and I feel just terrible about it! I gave my best care to my patients, but I let them down by not being able to document everything.

The cause of my forgetfulness was the constant interruptions throughout the day. We don't have a ward secretary or CNA on "supposedly slow days". There were only 2 of us on the floor. I had to stay 3 hours over my shift on Sat just to chart! Last night, I stayed over for one hour. Then when I got home, I realized that I had not charted a few things. This system is not user friendly! I write notes, but by the time I get to sit down and chart, I get interrupted and can't remember what I already charted and waste time looking back.

I was very proficient with hand charting and I miss it terribly. I feel I have lost control. I hate it when a physician will ask me a question about a patient, and I have to get to a computer and go through all of the steps. If I had the chart right in front of me, I could easily find the answer.

This system is stressing me out. There is nothing I can do to change it. Believe me, I am trying to keep up, but at times, it just doesn't seem worth staying in nursing any longer.