Unit clerk question.

Nursing Students General Students

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Or unit secretary...

Let me get this straight, is this how it happens?

Let's say a new patient out of PACU is coming up to your floor. The unit clerk is the one to transcribe and call the orders to dietary, pharmacy, PT...whatever.

THEN the RN checks what was transcribed against the doctors orders to make sure everything is correct.

Am I getting this right?

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

That is correct.

If there is no unit secretary, however, the RN is ultimately responsible for taking off new physician orders and making sure they are transcribed correctly. So, if the unit secretary calls off, or get floated to somewhere else in the hospital, or as used to happen when I worked nights happens to be the only unit secretary for all 200 beds. . .sometimes we RNs become our own unit secretaries unless another nurse or LPN steps up to help out. (NOTE: in the acute hospital, our LPN could transcribe orders just as a unit secretary could, but an RN still had to sign the orders off.)

Thanks!

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

You're welcome!

Specializes in Med/Surg.

Yes, that's how it goes. I am a unit secretary and my main job function is to pickup the physician orders that are written, especially the stat ones. Additionally, I run errands if need be....such as, I'll go to the pharmacy and pickup meds if I'm asked to. I also put the charts together for the new admits, take them apart for the ones that have been discharged, and file interdepartmental data.....I also answer a whole lot of questions from new or travel nurses who aren't that familiar with our computer system.

Thank you!

Yes, that's how it goes. I am a unit secretary and my main job function is to pickup the physician orders that are written, especially the stat ones. Additionally, I run errands if need be....such as, I'll go to the pharmacy and pickup meds if I'm asked to. I also put the charts together for the new admits, take them apart for the ones that have been discharged, and file interdepartmental data.....I also answer a whole lot of questions from new or travel nurses who aren't that familiar with our computer system.

Unit secretary here too. When a pt is transferred to us (telemetry unit) from another unit (SICU, MICU, IICO, Ortho) they come with their charts and Kardex. We don't have to transcribe anything cuz it's already there. However, if there are orders on the chart the last unit's RN did not sign off, we DO have to make sure they're entered in the computer.

It's amazing what the experience as a UC does on the clinical sites!!! You start to learn how to read SLOPPY handwriting and often times at work, the nurses come to you to say, "What do you think this says?"

HTH

Specializes in LTC, Community.

Another unit secretary here...

We admit the patient to our unit.. if they come from another unit they have a chart made and we only need to put in our specialty papers and recopy the kardex... if they are new admits from ER... then we make the chart... We transcribe all the dr's orders and the RN/RPN checks them...

We don't do calls to dietary, pharmacy, etc... for us its all done through computer... do all the filing, chart stocking, phone calls, call bells...etc etc etc

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