TICKED OFF about research!

treysdaddy08 · Sep 20, 2007

ok....for the last semester and a half, while doing clinicals at hospital, professors have been printing off patient profiles for students...or having us print them off ourselves. It has basic info like wt on admit, ht, amb status, if they have a foley, special orders, lab results, vitals last 4 times, glucos last 4, i/o's, general information, and medications....
just got a email that now we CANNOT print or photocopy any information, and need to do all research for clients by paper and pen starting this week....look up all meds, write them down, then write status', i/o's, conditions for admit, history, etc. etc.....
just seems SOOO unfair! Especially if you're a manager with 6-7+ patients...you have to know about ALL of them! I'm just frustrated and ready to kick the dean....cause she's doing a clinical group this semester and I'm sure decided to freak out on somebody because they weren't prepared or something along those lines.....
Just ticks me off...now instead of research being done at home with papers and easy internet access....now it'll be writing, writing writing for hours and then going home to research.....ARRGGHHHH!!! someone tell me it'll be ok!!!!

actually I'm starting school next week and we're doing the same thing. It's because of HIPPA regulations. You're not allowed to copy any material related to patient care anymore as a student. I'm going to find out if I can just store the info in my PDA. That way I don't have to write it all out, and it's all right there for referencing. Good luck!

AprilRNhere · Sep 20, 2007

I just finished school. We were never allowed to take any printed material from the facilities--ever.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2007

It'll be ok. Think of it as taking a trip back to a few years ago before we had computers. We had to write everything out then too. That's when we had "brains" and some of us copied extensive information onto those "brain" sheets each day we worked. I sometimes had 16 patients to keep track of and used to go in to work an hour ahead of time just to get all the information I wanted on my "brains" before report began. But, that was a decision I made because I am so anal and I have to be organized.

When a computer was first introduced to our unit and they took away our paper/carbon paper requisitions for ordering labwork and x-rays we all worried about what would happen if the computer broke down. When digital thermometers came out some of us worried that they weren't accurate and we kept our eye on where the old glass mercury thermometers were kept in case we needed them.

Sometimes it's good to have an appreciation for the past and what your previous colleagues went through. My advice: carry a second pen in case one runs out of ink.

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2007

I understand, D...don't get me wrong...I get it...it's just frustrating after getting things together and then switching things again.....oh well, school ends in May...may....may.......

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2007

I know. You are going to find that the one constant in nursing is that things are changing all the time. It's kind of an oxymoron. I would have two or three days off work and come back to find out we were being required to use a new charting form along with everything else, or there was some new thing we had to start doing. It didn't help that we had a head nurse who volunteered for every project the director of nursing came up with (brown-noser!). As a working nurse you will need to be able to switch gears and turn on a dime in an instant. That is part of your value as a problem solver and leader. It's just part of the job. You get used to it after a while. :icon_hug:

Shenanigans, RN · Sep 20, 2007

I dont' know about the rest of you, but I have no problem hand writing bits out of patient's notes, because as having been a patient I'd hate to think there could be any copies of my information out there in the world - espeically in the hands of students, even if someone had covered my name and identifable details.

Too much risk of an invasion or abuse of a patient's privacy, IMHO.

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2007

We have never gotten a print out on our patients. We have to write it by hand, go through the chart and pick out the info, etc.

I was team leader (aka manager) and had to have all the info on all the pts that the other students were the "nurse" for that day. It was difficult getting all the info on all the pts, but it can be done.

Consider yourself lucky, you had the luxery of having the print out for quite a while..and you only have to do it by hand for a bit ..May isnt' that far off its only a little over 6 mths away. I have to think like that since I graduate in June :lol2:

WDWpixieRN, RN · Sep 21, 2007

I probably spend 1 - 2 hours at the hospital on the day before clinicals gathering pt info so I can go home and do the research, look up the meds, start care plans, etc....hate it...but that's the way it's done here...the only exception was one hospital site we were at in 1st semester that used PC charting...we were allowed to print the meds and take them with us after tearing off the pt info. Wow, did that make life NICE!! Drugs seem to take the most time to copy, particularly when there are pages of them!!

APBT mom, LPN, RN · Sep 21, 2007

We have to write everything out by hand too. It's not that big of a deal to us. The only sheet that we get a print out of is a dummy face sheet that has pending orders, diet, and diagnosis on it. They're usually never accurate. We also aren't able to go to the hospital before hand and get info on our patients. We don't even find out who we are assigned to until about five minutes before we go upstairs.

twinkerrs · Sep 21, 2007

We have to write everything out by hand too. It's not that big of a deal to us. The only sheet that we get a print out of is a dummy face sheet that has pending orders, diet, and diagnosis on it. They're usually never accurate. We also aren't able to go to the hospital before hand and get info on our patients. We don't even find out who we are assigned to until about five minutes before we go upstairs.

Oh wow. I dont know if I could be that far on my toes.

This was our first week of clinicals and I spent 3 hours at the hospital picking a patient and going through the chart.

beachbum3 · Sep 21, 2007

ok....for the last semester and a half, while doing clinicals at hospital, professors have been printing off patient profiles for students...or having us print them off ourselves. It has basic info like wt on admit, ht, amb status, if they have a foley, special orders, lab results, vitals last 4 times, glucos last 4, i/o's, general information, and medications....
just got a email that now we CANNOT print or photocopy any information, and need to do all research for clients by paper and pen starting this week....look up all meds, write them down, then write status', i/o's, conditions for admit, history, etc. etc.....
just seems SOOO unfair! Especially if you're a manager with 6-7+ patients...you have to know about ALL of them! I'm just frustrated and ready to kick the dean....cause she's doing a clinical group this semester and I'm sure decided to freak out on somebody because they weren't prepared or something along those lines.....
Just ticks me off...now instead of research being done at home with papers and easy internet access....now it'll be writing, writing writing for hours and then going home to research.....ARRGGHHHH!!! someone tell me it'll be ok!!!!

Yeah, it definitley sucks, however we only have 2 weeks left on medsurg... then we don't research for OB or in 4th semester at all. 4th semester they want us to be more like it is out there- when we are working we won't have an opportunity to research our patients the night before. I'm in the clinical group you mentioned, and we have all been prepared. She told us directly it was because someone reported seeing students on campus at school with profiles that didn't have the identifiers removed. THAT irritates me. Because some people can't take the time to use a marker or a pair of scissors we all have to suffer. Personally I don't spend loads of time researching anyway. I make sure I know what the meds they are taking are for, what is wrong with them, and what specific plan of care I have for the day. I plan to write down meds, current diagnosis, and any significant interventions that will pertain to the care I'll be giving. Actually, come to think of it we were always allowed to research the morning of- I might do that because then we could use patient profiles and not have to write anything since we won't be leaving the hospital with them. The only thing with that is filling out some of the database info. I guess we will see how it works. Only 2 more weeks then no more research!