How important is the ability to communicate via writing?

[Virgo_RN]

I am curious about what some of the seasoned nurses think about this topic. In my ADN program, the instructors stress to us the ability to write using correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. They say that this reflects upon us as professionals.

Any thoughts you'd like to share?

[PMHNP10]

During one teachers conference, she showed me a paper that my son has composed. It was sloppy, filled with mis-spellings and bad grammer. Yet she gave him an A. I was disgusted, and asked her why she would ever accept something that looked like that. She told me that she didn't want to 'discourage his creativity'.

I remember the slogan of the HS I spent a semester of Hell standing in front a full classroom, writing a bunch of numbers on a chalkboard. When you walked in the building there was a big banner that read "Every student can and will earn a diploma." I happened to get my hands on one of the smaller versions of that banner and added "at the expense of an education." and displayed it in my apartment window. I was so angry during those days...probably coulda benefitted from therapy.

Point being that I believe that's the trend with today's elementary ed...if students don't pass, the teachers are held accountable, so teachers do anything they can to avoid failing students. That is the SINGLE greatest thing about my experience, though...at least half of my student earned their solid "F" and I gladly obliged because there wasn't a thing admin could do about it because I left that hellhole (and public school teaching) forever. How could I be held accountable for a HS student's inability to perform basic math functions? My first day I gave them a test that I spent alot of time designing that included math problems as simple as 2*3, 9/3, etc. and some got it wrong. Worse yet...of the 3 classes (60+ total students), only 5 passed, and I promise you, my more advanced problems were very basic--fraction/decimal/% conversions and math problems; proportions; a couple word problems; and a couple very basic algebra problems (e.g., x+4=7). I could go on and on about that nightmare.

Can you imagine a similar mindset in healthcare where our performance was rated based on patient compliance with their discharge instruction (hence staying out of the hospital)? It's absolute lunacy. Patient satisfaction surveys are bad enough...

[Katie82, RN]

A chart is a legal document. If you were to need to defend your notes in court, it would make you look better if you don't come across as a illiterate moron.

[leslie :-D]

i respect myself enough as a person and a nurse, to want to be able to express myself behaviorally and intellectually, at a minimum of an 8th grade level.

leslie