Pros and Cons over using "Wall a Roos" and charting in patient's rooms

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Does anyone have any input as to the pros or cons of using chart storage units in patient rooms and/or charting in patient rooms? Thanks!

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Con: Very hard to concentrate on charting if you have a chatty patient

Some pts will find one thing after the other to bug you with just because you are in the room

Cant chart on a different patient unless positive no one in the room will see the other pt's info

Cant hear call lights

Not easily accessible for other staff when they need my help (they have to hunt me down from a room)

Sometimes the few minutes I sit to chart are the only times I get to sit, if I stand in a room to chart, I never get to sit

Positives: Pt feels I am spending more time with them

I feel it is more timely, I can chart as I go

Overall, I really only like to chart in rooms if the pts are sleeping, nonverbal, or respect my need to chart. It does not work to chart in a room with a patient with 1,245 visitors or with a patient who thinks you are in there to entertain them.

We have had bedside charting for one year and almost all the nurses wish we had computers on carts so we could choose to either chart in the room or find a spot in the hallway

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You bring up some very, very good points! Thank you so much!

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Good for "quick" charting- vitals, I&O's, charting a BM...not so good for a full assessment. We have touch screens, and I like to type on a keyboard...not the touch screen.

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Specializes in pulm/cardiology pcu, surgical onc.
Good for "quick" charting- vitals, I&O's, charting a BM...not so good for a full assessment. We have touch screens, and I like to type on a keyboard...not the touch screen.

I actually like charting my full assessment at the bedside so I have all the info and body in the same place. We have LOTS of tubes and drains to chart so it's helpful to be able to see it than chart it right away or I'd forget. A lot of my quick charting I'll do when I step outside the room since they're trying to sleep at night. I WISH we had touchscreen!

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Specializes in med/surg and Tele.

In my hospital we have the Wall a Roos right outside the door of the patients rooms. I dont like them becuase they tend to break easily. I have run in to them when I am trying to dodge in an out of the maze that can sometimes be the hallways, and trust me, they hurt. I have ripped one off the wall once by smashing a bed into it by accident..lol...oops.

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