paperwork in the or

I also work at a small hospital that sounds similar to yours. Our nursing record is one page, but they are in the process of "updating" it and I fear that means it will be even longer soon. Some cases have several charge sheets plus the various other forms. I agree that it is time consuming and redundant. There is hardly time to get started on it when there are several short cases in a row!

Christine

I recently resumed my or career after a a 20 year hiatus raising 3 children with Tourette Syndrome. The volume of paperwork for each case is incredible and very redundant. I'm at a small hospital with only 4 operating rooms, 2 endo rooms and a cysto room. There is a three page nursing record, a huge charge sheet and 4-5 other documents. Depending on the case, there may also be a special charge sheet as well. Is this the norm? I's not what I was used to. I hardly have time to think about the patient or the case at hand.

i work at a larger teaching facility, and while we use computer documentation, we have a couple of paper items to complete, too. we were told last week that yet another paper item was being added to the documentation! and redundancy? oh, yes...loads of it. the reasons for this additional sheet were so that jcaho could find our care plan information in a single place. so, i have to delay patient care so that jcaho can check up on me faster. :angryfire grrr...

i work at a larger teaching facility, and while we use computer documentation, we have a couple of paper items to complete, too. we were told last week that yet another paper item was being added to the documentation! and redundancy? oh, yes...loads of it. the reasons for this additional sheet were so that jcaho could find our care plan information in a single place. so, i have to delay patient care so that jcaho can check up on me faster. :angryfire grrr...

wait a minute....i thought the whole idea of computer charting was to eliminate paper work? leave it to the higher-ups to find a way of occupying our time with yet more documentation. of course, they could take a clue from my old workplace and actually put the nursing diagnosis/nursing interventions/nursing outcomes all into the or record...of course, it'll stretch out to 3 pages but hey, at least it'll already be in the or record when you chart.:)