I work with a nurse that literally only uses one initial. Her name is Sue Jones (made up name of course) and she signs all of the MARS/TARS, etc. with only "S".
When the medical records coordinator complained to the DON, the DON backed the nurse when the nurse said there is not a guideline to how many initials you must use in the chart so she can use one if she wants.
Does anyone know the guideline for using initials? I've googled my tail off but can't find "the rules". All I find is where to use initials, not how many.
This is driving me nuts as I know there are guidelines somewhere.
Everyone at my facility complains that they can not read my initials in the boxes of the MAR. However, my boss agrees with me when I tell them as long as I sign the back of the MAR and TAR with the same initials and you can read my signiture there is nothing they can do about it. Besides that if they want to be able to read my initals they need to give my a bigger box to put them in.
On my unit this is actually pretty common. Although we have several nurses with the same first name, each has a unique FULL signature and a unique initial, even a single letter. For example, four nurses all known as "Sue" might be, on paper, S, Q, R, and T, as initials for Susan S. Smith, Suzanne Elizabeth Quintavius, Suella Richmond, and Sioux Treehugger.
And since we have dozens of boxes to initial (still paper charting), that extra letter really does take up time.
Best of luck in finding out the law on this in your state. That would seem to speak to legibility in handwriting as well. Maybe there is some case law about md orders and legibility that you could pursue.
Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.
Call your legal department and run it by them just to be sure....you may also need to check your nursing charting policies as they usually indicate the requirments
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
I sign all my charts will my full signature and professional initials including degree and job title. For example: Diane Kirse, RN, BSN, CN 3-11. I have just learned to do this after all these years and it has become a habit.
I think that if the nurse is consistent in the use of "S" as her initial, and it is easily recognized as hers, then it should be fine. After all, your legal signature doesn't even have to be legible. It just needs to be how you consistently sign things.
When I was in management, if there was no facility policy and no direct board of nursing directive... we (the managers) discussed issues like this at monthly meetings to determine if a new policy needs to be brought into place.
You may have stumbled upon a gray area that requires some clear guidelines.. We have a signiture policy that clearly states our requirements, especially with multiple same initials.
So you may need to produce one. In a day or two consider re-reading your replies here. You may be surprised at how quick your knee jerks, just a suggestion.
JB2007, ASN, RN
554 Posts
Everyone at my facility complains that they can not read my initials in the boxes of the MAR. However, my boss agrees with me when I tell them as long as I sign the back of the MAR and TAR with the same initials and you can read my signiture there is nothing they can do about it. Besides that if they want to be able to read my initals they need to give my a bigger box to put them in.