jenack

TJC can see who documented the VS, it would be obvious if one nurse documented every four hours and another nurse filled in the remaining times. The false documentation will also show the date, time and the nurses name who entered the falsified documentation. She will throw the nurse under the bus if it is discovered and denies she ever told the nurse to falsify the documentation.

Falsification of documentation to satisfy Joint Commission Requirements for Stroke designation. My nurse manager demanded that the charge nurse and patient care facilitator enter documentation on stroke patients that they did not care for. This type of documentation is a felony however it is often required of nursing staff anytime Joint commission, magnet or any other regulatory agency comes to our hospital. This time the manager is having nursing enter neuro VS and Glasgow coma scales every hour on stroke patients when the nurse caring for the patients entered them every 4 hours as ordered by the physician. We were told all ICU patients get Q 1 hour neuro checks regardless of what the physicians orders are. The manager is not asking the nurses who took care of the patients to enter the information in the medical record she is making the charge nurse and patient care facilitator create documentation that does not exist. What is the best way to handle this situation? If the nurse refuses they fear being fired, if they falsify documentation they will not only loose their license but could be sent to prison.