Military Time

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Several.

I was recently told by several nurses at my facility that we are not to use military time in our documentation. This is not stated in my handbook and the DON has not said anything ot me about it. I strongly prefer military time since we chart by hand and handwriting tends to get rather messy. Can a facility actually make you stop using military time? Has anyone else been faced with this?

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

What does the boss say about it? If it's a rule, or a new rule that hasn't shown up in Policies and Procedures yet, you have to follow what the facility expects...

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Specializes in LTC.

Ask the DON.

If she doesn't know, my guess is that they probably just can't figure out military time- it's what I use, and another nurse was having fits about it, saying I could lose my license for it (?!). Eventually I figured out that she thought it was too much work to do the "math" to figure out what 1700 meant.

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Specializes in Several.

I haven't had a chance to ask the DON. I work nights so it's hard to catch her. I'll probably end up just leave a note under her door about it. She sees my reports at the daily meetings so I would think that she would have mentioned it by now if it were a big deal...but who knows? I've read through the policy and procedure manual and it is not mentioned.

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I thought military time was the professional standard everywhere.

If not, it should be.

It just makes sense.

If someone can't figure it out then I wonder what else they can't figure out.

It's not rocket science.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
another nurse was having fits about it, saying I could lose my license for it (?!).

Oh good lord. I have read many reasons on here for why people think they would lose their license, but this is the first time I have heard of losing one's license for using or not using military time.

Our computer charting system requires that the 24 hr clock be used...for example, time time of the note would have to entered as '1925' yet is shows up on some reports at "7:25 pm"--go figure. One exception--death certificates say "use am or pm not the 24 hour clock." I have no idea what the rationale is for this.

In general, I am a big fan of using the 24 hour clock. It (usually) can help prevent a lot of confusion.

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The 24 hour clock is used pretty much everywhere here. Shop receipts, healthcare, policing, military, TV. It's second nature.

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oh, lordy, lose your license for charting military time? :lol2: horsepucky. you can read the list of people in your state whose licenses have been restricted or revoked, and they are for things like narcotics diversion, felony theft, abuse, and fraud. "writing military time in a chart"-- oh, we gotta tell the board that. i'll bet they'll fall outta their chairs in hysterics. they could probably use a good laugh-- why not call them and ask them that some quiet shift?

that said, if there is a written policy then you have to do what it says. otherwise, tell her that a lot of people land in court because their documentation is ambiguous. they chart "7:00" and it's up to us, years later, to figure out if it's am or pm. sometimes we're right, sometimes we're wrong. military time, not so much.

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Military time is the best. But unfortunately, the civil side - such as birth and death certs - usually still use the AM/PM stuff. Much to hard for the powers that be making those weighty decisions change to a 24 hr clock!

There should be a policy somewhere, find it and follow it.

Best wishes!

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Specializes in none.

The answer is yes a facility can change Military time to Stander Time. It's just a policy. You can't loose your license for it.The things that you can loose your license for are things like falsifying records, maybe. Drug charges, Maybe depending on the drug.Murder yes. Other serious things. But each state is different.

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Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

If it's not a written policy, then you can chart it however you want.

Think about it though- if you're the only one doing military time, then it's not going to help you read other nurse's documentation. It might make yours more legible though, but if no one in the facility uses military time, then it's probably not going to help them read your notes. They might even be more likely to make an error- such as mistaking 1800 for 8 o'clock.

Here's what I would do. Chart the standard time, but write the military time next to it in parentheses.

5/26/12 2:30pm (1430): Mrs. Y's left leg dressing changed.

That way you're charting in a way that you know your colleagues will understand, but you're also covering all bases in the event of confusion and making yourself more comfortable.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

What about medical records having any information re: military time ?

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