Paperwork?

Editorial Team / Admin · Oct 20, 2005

Im finishing my pre-req's and should be in Nursing school by this Fall. Im a secretary now, and the thing i hate about it is the paperwork. Is there alot of paperwork as an RN? Or do the doctor's secretaries take care of that? Im hoping there is not.

Hello, jaylynn67,:balloons:

If you are hoping that a nurse has little to no paperwork, you will be most disappointed. We do a vast amount of paperwork. Takes much time and a real need for the nurse to know how to manage time in order to complete patient care.

papawjohn · Oct 20, 2005

Hey JayLynn

To put it charitably, your secretarial skills will be helpful if you pursue a nursing career. It has become common to have a 'flow-sheet' to keep track of 'flow sheets'--and all require that you check the blocks and initial and sign your name (and often to PRINT your name too) every shift and every patient. We find it rediculous and stupid.

Grumble Grumble Grumble

Papaw John

KatieBell · Oct 20, 2005

Some hospitals have gone paperless, but you still spend a lot of time doing "paperless paperwork" via the computer. If you go to a hospital that has an older charting form, you will spend a lot of time writing.

Kasper1014 · Oct 24, 2005

There is a lot of paper work. I work in a TB hospital. I chart on about 28 patients per night. Plus the 24 hour census, the 24 hour report, the sign in sheets and MAPS. Plus all the LVN check lists I have to sign. It really isn't bad, since I don;t mind the paper work. At another hospital I worked, it was all computer. Depends where you work, but still lots of documentation.

Kassy : )

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2005

You poor unsuspecting thing. Nurses are always charting to cover their butts. The patient's chart is a legal document and the physical evidence that a patient was given treatment. Yes, there is a lot of paperwork. It runs a vast gamut from writing down what you actually did with a patient to ordering diets and equipment to writing up complaints or incident reports. Instead of typing up letters for someone else you will be writing up accounts of the things you do for patients for the permanent record of the nursing care they have received. Unlike secretarial work, however, you will be doing these things for yourself and for patients who you are helping. I came from an office background and the big attraction to nursing for me has always been the one-on-one contact with people and knowing that I was doing something that was making a difference in someone's life. Oh, and in the doctor's offices guess who the secretaries usually are?