Late entries and legality

[michelle95]

I have a situation to ask you guys' advice on.

I work in a home for developmentally disabled adults. Out of 63 residents, we only have one G-tube feeder. We are supposed to chart on this resident every shift (7a-7p and 7p-7a). The problem is that some of the nurses haven't charted on her for their shifts.

Ok, so the boss got mad, I agree with her. But, I think her plan of correction may have been illegal. She made each of the nurses that forgot to chart use a separate nursing note and make late entries. The problem is that some of these "late entries" are up to a month old.

When I was flipping through the chart the other night to chart on this resident...I freaked. This screams for state to site us. One nurse has her own "note" with up to 10 late entries and then you flip the page and find another nurse has a page with 1 LE.

Can you legally do this? And, what should the cut-off be for a late entry?

Just wondering...and I hope some legal nurses read this.

Me? Luckily, I didn't forget to chart. But, even if I did...no way no how am I charting something for a month ago.

[GingerSue]

- this needs to be answered, so where to find the authority?

- is there anything in your policy manual?

[elkpark]

In my state, I have found in the past that the BON was willing to answer questions like this on an anonymous, "hypothetical" basis (i.e., they would answer the question without pressing for information about what agency we're talking about or whether the situation is really happening or you are just idly curious). Is this something you could inquire about with your BON?

[BHolliRNMS]

I think most boards of nursing will tell you that you can make a late entry on anything that you can factually remember without a doubt. I think anyone would have a difficult time convincing a bon they can remember a month ago. In MS the bon doesn't specify a time limit on late errors; they do stress factually remembering---without a doubt. Most companies include a time limit in their p/p. Ours is 5 days on resident condition but no later than end of shift for administration of a medication.

[michelle95]

5 days is doable....a month is not. IMHO.

I think I will ask the board about this, anonymously.