Documenting numbers

[CorpsmanRN, BSN, RN]

Hoping for an answer &/or insight to this question:

When hand charting/documenting the number "zero", is using the 0 with a line through it (Ø) not allowed?

I have been in the military for 12 years now & that was one of the first things we were taught; to write zero's that way (& say "zero" instead of "oh" when referring to the number). This is used to avoid confusion between an "O" & "0". Anyhow I'm so used to it that I use it unknowingly, leading me to use it when I was charting a time on a MAR (1000). My nursing instructor said that it is not used in nursing & may not be a 'bona fide' symbol or something. She said it could be mistaken for one o'clock? or one? I can't remember exactly. She told me it must be a military thing. Yes, I learned it there but I've never had anyone else make a comment about it (well, in one Math class the teacher docked off points until I explained why I was using 'no solution' in my work).

I knew before entering nursing school that some things will be done a bit different and was warned about doing things the way I do it in the military. I guess some dislike nurses with mil. experience. Oh, she also told me that you should never push a syringe plunger all the way (whether pushing a med or giving an injection), because then I'm introducing air into the site. Also to never flick the syringe to get air bubbles out - yup, got the evil eye for that too. What!? I've been giving injections for 10 years & have never been told I'm doing things wrong. I've never given a wrong injection, hurt anyone, etc.

Sorry, went off topic a little. I'd like other points of view on how to go about this. Is she making a mountain out of a mole hill or should I retrain my brain? Thanks!!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Never heard of such a thing - I write all my zeros like that, so do a lot of the RNs I work with - I was prior USAF, but none of these women were.

Never heard of not flicking a syringe (unless the med says not to agitate) and if you don't push the plunger in all the way, you're not giving all the drug. if any air is introed - it's in the needle WHEN YOU INITIALLY PUSH THE PLUNGER, not at the end! And this is why you push the plunger a bit to force a drop or two out of the end of the needle ensuring the needle is loaded b/f you give the shot.

Do whatever she tells you - because you'll probably have to - but she sounds like a piece of work to me.

[HopeForMelissa]

I'm not officially a nursing student until next month, but I was once told this by a nursing instructor....

During nursing school, you must learn to do things the way that your particular clinical instructor wants them. If she says the sky is pink, then the sky is pink. Once you graduate from nursing school, the sky can be any color you want, but while you are in nursing school, the sky is pink.

I don't know why that stuck with me, but it did.