Profanity in nursing notes

MiaLyse, APRN · May 19, 2006

CHATSDALE said:
it depends on the situation...if the patients was cursing and not threatening i would use the generic
if the patient was abusive and threatening i would use the exact words which might be more indicative of a need for a chemical restraint if a question ever came up
just me..we don't have any protocal

Same here. I work on a behavioral unit and in certain situations it is better and beneficial to the patient to have exact wording in the notes.

Kelly

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 20, 2006

ZASHAGALKA said:
And because I disagree, I therefore think it's uncouth. You claim that I am making a religious stand here. But what did I do to encourage this claim?
I think quoting profanity is unnecessary, and, because you don't know AND CAN'T KNOW the potential and required audience of that chart, it is therefore simply ill-mannered.
~faith,
Timothy.

I apologize if I'm off base. But your tone was one of moral supriority. I didn't bring religion into it, I don't think, if I did I'm sorry that wasn't my intention to claim that you were taking a religious stand. However, you started with a quote you saw on a chruch, which implies your moral take on profanity.

At the very least saying "If you think that you must resort to that level of crudeness to do your job, go for it. For myself, I believe myself to be capable of effective documentation and yet, still comport myself with a little more 'finesse'. impliles some measure of superiority, from whatever aspect be it technical or moral.

Otherwise I disagree with just about everything else you said in this post that I deleted for brevity's sake. That's o.k. your opinion is neither right nor wrong, it's you're opinion and I don't hold it, but I know others do, and you haven't convinced me to change, not that you were trying.

As always my friend, with respect. ?

ZASHAGALKA, RN · May 20, 2006

I understand that it's an opinion issue with no clear right or wrong 'answer'.

And ultimately, it's not that big a deal. Anybody that works in healthcare has to be able to deal with profanity, written or otherwise.

So, no, I don't think it's a moral issue; or at least, not a moral issue that you can AVOID working in healthcare. I don't think charting quoted profanity is necessary. And so, I think it's a 'manners' issue.

Besides, Tweety, I think where we DISAGREE on this issue comes down to worldview. I see the world as more black and white; you more grey. And that is just a matter of perspective and not fact.

I think we are in 90% agreement that charting quoted profanity is NORMALLY not necessary. We just disagree on the 10% margin; you allow that there are times when it might be necessary; and I don't.

But it's not a huge issue.

Just my opinion.

Peace.

And happy birthday, Tweety.

~faith,

Timothy.

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 20, 2006

ZASHAGALKA said:
I understand that it's an opinion issue with no clear right or wrong 'answer'.
And ultimately, it's not that big a deal. Anybody that works in healthcare has to be able to deal with profanity, written or otherwise.
So, no, I don't think it's a moral issue; or at least, not a moral issue that you can AVOID working in healthcare. I don't think charting quoted profanity is necessary. And so, I think it's a 'manners' issue.
Besides, Tweety, I think where we DISAGREE on this issue comes down to worldview. I see the world as more black and white; you more grey. And that is just a matter of perspective and not fact.
I think we are in 90% agreement that charting quoted profanity is NORMALLY not necessary. We just disagree on the 10% margin; you allow that there are times when it might be necessary; and I don't.
But it's not a huge issue.
Just my opinion.
Peace.
And happy birthday, Tweety.
~faith,
Timothy.

Thanks Timothy, great post. You're right on that I allow for a lot of gray in my thinking and my life, very perceptive. I do tend to bump heads with black and white thinkers.:trout:

I do agree that quoting profanity is not necessary probably 90% of the time. As I said before I work with a street population that is prone to profanity often and I honestly can't think of a time in the last several years where I've used a direct profane quote, not that I haven't, and as I said not that I haven't verbally quoted a patient to a coworker, supervisor, or MD.

I guess, we'll leave it at that as we're probably out of our two cents by now. ?

bigtex · May 20, 2006

findingmywayRN said:
In nursing school we were taught to write exactly what the patient says in quotes in our nursing notes to get a better understanding of the patient. Although I have written profanity in quotes in my notes, I see nurses writing a letter with a line after it indicating profanity. Is it more common for nurses to censor the patient's statements in their notes or are more nurses writing profanity? I'd really like to know! Thanks.

I have written profanity, because I want to set the stage for anyone reading my notes. It just gives the reader a better feeling. I have also had women with behavior problems say lick my .... (for this site I will not use it.) or suck on my titty, ect. I chart it exactly because as a male i dont want anything being misquoted or misconstruded.