We were taught the same thing. My unit wanted assessments at 0800, 1200, and 1600. It was explained to me that if you chart past those times say 0825 instead of 0800) and the patient has an acute change at 0825, a lawyer might point to the fact that you didn't assess your patient within the required 4 hours and thus led to the patient's problems. Also, when you are taken to court, I am not sure if they will have other patient charts to compare your charting times as this may be a violation of HIPAA (unless they subpoena other charts to prove nurse incompetency?). I would be interested to hear from someone in legal about this because I have always questioned it as well!