(Just for grins) Pet Peeve of the Week: chart hoarding

Specialties Emergency

Published

I love our Residents. I love getting to be a part of their training, and watching them grow over the years they're with us. We have a great bunch who are mostly a blast to work with. But there seems to be a worm in many of their brains. That worm causes them to do strange things like stack charts under their left elbows and hoard them there like a dragon with his gold and jewels, curl up and nap on them, and then 45 minutes later, wonder why a med they wrote for 45 minutes ago just was given 10 minutes ago... Um, did you forget that that order was being incubated on your lap and attended to by you like a mother hen attends to her eggs for the first 30 minutes after you wrote it?? And that the only way I could have learned of its existence sooner would be to have given you a pat-down last time I passed through the nurse's station?

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Specializes in CNA: LTC & DD.

Seems like an odd habit...why would they want to carry it around instead of handing it off to the people who need it?

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Specializes in ICU.

somewhat related pet peeve:

what gets me is the nights nurses hoarding their charts! heaven forbid they leave them in the (centrally located, easily accessible, clean and organized!!) chart rack. instead, they gather up the charts for their patients and hide them away in whatever hideyhole they've found for the night for doing charting/making physician or family calls/whatever...some at the nurses station, some in the physicians' dictation room, some in the unit clerk office if there's no unit clerk on that night, some in the break room, some in the med room (and of course most of the time they're in with their patients or running around, so it's hard to figure out whose stack of charts belong to which nurse)! and then when i come along to file cardiology reports/consults in the charts i have to first figure out what nurse has what rooms, find where they're sitting, get access to those areas, try to do my filing only to find they've traded patients with other nurses or redivided the teams or any other number of reasons why charts aren't even grouped together reasonably...drives me crazy!! i understand you might want to have all your charts together to do chart checks or something at the beginning of your shift...but really, having all of your charts in a closed/locked room halfway down the hall from the nurses station all night long makes it really hard for others to do their jobs! is it so hard to put a chart back in the chart rack after doing a chart check/calling a physician? i mean, almost all that info is on the computerized charting program as well!

i think i'm the only one stuck doing my filing on nights...and i think i know why now. :(

does this happen at anyone else’s' facility?

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Specializes in ICU.

So glad we have electronics. Would NEVER want to go back.

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we dont have residents, but we have the chart mafia. This is the risk manager, and her sidekick, checking our charts for any missed signatures, paper work missing, so forth, and so on. The night shift cant check their charts, because they have the charts at 0600. We dont leave until 0630. I say, give us a chance to check before taking the charts. Our DON is always on our butts about not signing meds. out. We are a rural hospital, and we dont have a pyxsis.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.
I love our Residents. I love getting to be a part of their training, and watching them grow over the years they're with us. We have a great bunch who are mostly a blast to work with. But there seems to be a worm in many of their brains. That worm causes them to do strange things like stack charts under their left elbows and hoard them there like a dragon with his gold and jewels, curl up and nap on them, and then 45 minutes later, wonder why a med they wrote for 45 minutes ago just was given 10 minutes ago... Um, did you forget that that order was being incubated on your lap and attended to by you like a mother hen attends to her eggs for the first 30 minutes after you wrote it?? And that the only way I could have learned of its existence sooner would be to have given you a pat-down last time I passed through the nurse's station?

I feel your pain having dealt with it for 5 years myself. Teaching hospitals are great. Especially enjoyed your skill in describing the catch 22 type frustration of dealing with residents sometimes. Nice job.

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lol... I had to laugh at this because I had this issue just last week. I start shift at 1900 and resident comes in at 1910 for a new admit. I gave him a list of the standard orders for the situation and home meds. Then I wait... and wait. Pt has to urinate, but needs a catheter anyway. Get a verbal order...and wait. Finally at 2130 I asked to review the orders because I knew there would be a consult, and didn't want to have to wait. Then the orders for home meds so I could get them in the system before 2400 and she became NPO.

I joked with the oncoming staff the next day that there should be a one hour limit with the chart.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I love nursing students, but they are notorious for nabbing charts and taking them to the break room to do their care plans. I understand why, there is not enough room and seats in the nurses station for students, but I have wasted a lot time searching for charts that they had.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
seems like an odd habit...why would they want to carry it around instead of handing it off to the people who need it?

because the minute they hand it off or (shudders!) put it away, the attending will come by and ask for some esoteric bit of information that they would only know if they were able to immediately look it up in the chart. perhaps if they keep the chart under their left elbows, some of that information will miraculously seep into their subconscious so they can whip those facts out just when they need them!

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Specializes in LTC.

I work 2 jobs. My main job is nights and then my on call postion is days. I get soooo frustrated at my on call job because various administrative staff will have my charts and not just for a bit and return them, but all day!

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Specializes in Emergency.

I'm a chart hoarder, I admit it. I don't know why, hard habit to break. Just like having them sit next my terminal. It's a difficult habit to break. But I'm tryin' real hard Ringo.

We're mostly electronic, only consult & resident progress notes are paper. All orders cpoe.

My peeve is: Put the chart back where you found it! Especially when that place is my terminal.

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I love our Residents. I love getting to be a part of their training, and watching them grow over the years they're with us. We have a great bunch who are mostly a blast to work with. But there seems to be a worm in many of their brains. That worm causes them to do strange things like stack charts under their left elbows and hoard them there like a dragon with his gold and jewels, curl up and nap on them, and then 45 minutes later, wonder why a med they wrote for 45 minutes ago just was given 10 minutes ago... Um, did you forget that that order was being incubated on your lap and attended to by you like a mother hen attends to her eggs for the first 30 minutes after you wrote it?? And that the only way I could have learned of its existence sooner would be to have given you a pat-down last time I passed through the nurse's station?

Oh, just pull those charts out from under, hit 'em over the head with them, and explain why the chart belongs to YOU! !

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