Staying late to chart

Hi...I am a new nurse (2months) and I work on a busy post op unit. I seem to be so busy that I am staying late after my shift just to chart. My hospital does not use computers for charting as of yet. There are 4 sheets that we must document on for each patient, and narrative charting which seems to be the thing that keeps me late every shift. I have asked for input from my fellow nurses about time management, etc to help me get faster with the paperwork. I dont even take my lunch break at times, but seem to always stay late to catch up. Is this just the "newbie" in me, or do other nurses find that they often stay late to document? I am feeling very insecure at this point...thanks for listening.

It's probably just the "newbie" thing. New nurses tend, if anything, to overchart. You are used to charting voluminously to be sure you don't miss anything and because you are being "graded" on it. Over time you will learn what is important to chart and will streamline your charting. You may want to ask someone on your unit who seems very efficient to take a look at your charting and suggest how you could revise it.

bless your heart! i hear the frustration and have experienced it. it probably depends on the specialty but in my experience, staying late to chart or to catch up on other things is more often the "norm" than not. documentation is essential so you can't leave without doing it obviously.

I agree that it depends on where you work and what happened in the shift that makes you stay late to chart. Now we do have several nurses on our unit that seem to ALWAYS be there late charting and they've been nurses way longer than me. Some of it is a time management issue which you will learn with time, and some of it just goes with the territory. ie working on a very busy floor with many admissions and discharges.

I think once you get the hang of everything, you'll find you won't be staying as late to chart.

Thank you so very much for your input...I tell myself with time I will pick up speed and get better at the whole process...Everyone says it takes a good year to find your "groove"....ughh 10 more months to go...lol...thanks:yawn:

In time you will become more efficient in your work day so that you have the opportunity to chart throughout your shift. Strive for this goal. Nurses who wait until the end of their shift to chart everything tend to forget things. You'll get there eventually. Remember that the first year of nursing is the absolute hardest!

There will be days that even the most experienced nurse will have to stay late. It's just the nature of the beast sometimes. As time goes on you do realize what's most important and necessary to chart and what isn't so it gets easier and less overwhelming as the days pass.

I agree that it depends on where you work and what happened in the shift that makes you stay late to chart. Now we do have several nurses on our unit that seem to ALWAYS be there late charting and they've been nurses way longer than me. Some of it is a time management issue which you will learn with time, and some of it just goes with the territory. ie working on a very busy floor with many admissions and discharges.

I think once you get the hang of everything, you'll find you won't be staying as late to chart.

I agree.

Crawl...I tried to send you PM, but you have too many on your account. Clear some out, and I'll send you my advice re what you asked me about.

I would say try to take a few minutes to write in the narrative throughout your shift. In reality most things can wait one to two minutes and charting is so much easier when it is done as things happen in the shift. When I wait until after my shift is over and try to chart on a patient that had a lot going on it takes me 2-3 times longer and I am much more likely to forget something or get the times messed up.

At my former workplace we did computer charting and I remember skipping my morning break, charting during my lunch break and then staying late to chart because I spent most of the day in my patients rooms! This was my first job and I was a new grad. Eventually with time I became more efficient and I became one of the nurses that finishes everything early and sat around and relaxed for the last hour or so. It takes time, so hang in there. I remember being very discouraged at first too, but I learned that most of my friends who were recent grads went through it too :)

BTW, I just started a new job and I am back to where I started. Its a TOTALLY different facility and computer system so it'll take me awhile to get used to it and adapt! But change can be good :)

It's pretty common for it to happen to newer nurses. Keep in mind your manager will pick up on it if it becomes a pattern that you stay late everyday that you work. On our unit it results in counseling and finally disciplinary action if it is happening all the time (the overtime eats into the payroll budget). Make sure you're getting paid for skipping the lunch break though!

i will never forget the first holiday i worked after i was off of orientation. i clocked out at 0915, not 0730. i wanted to never ever come into work again. i had one of those nights, and i literally did not sit down until i gave report the next morning.

was it because i was new? that didn't help. not because i believe new nurses overchart, (i actually think a lot of people chart inadequate amounts!) but because i believe new nurses are just unsure of themselves when charting. charting, even doing flowsheets versus narrative notes, is like no other writing a person has ever done. i don't think my issue was my ingenuity, though. i think i had a bad night. i know that now i would still have ended up leaving late, but i also think i would have not been as late because charting is just easier now that i've been a nurse for two years, not because i'm overcharting.

i have a question for you. why do you not have any time on your shift to chart? i know your floor is busy (you're preaching to the surgical nursing choir right here!) but it seems like the other nurses have some time during the shift (even if they aren't charting as extensively as you and they're more practiced at it, they should still be staying late if the nature of the floor is to blame). are your patient assignments heavier? do you not get a tech? or, do you do the tech's duties? do you find yourself offering (or being offered) to "help" the other nurses?

if you have heavier patient assignments than everyone, that is not fair. i know that the new kid on the block gets dumped with that a lot of times. that was me. guess what i did? i spoke up...and things changed on our floor for the new nurses that came after me. i waited too long to be my own advocate, but all of the new grads who have come since don't have to deal with what i did. if you're not getting a tech and others are, ditto to what i just said. if you're doing the tech duties, good for you. i think it's great to be a team. but that's the thing. you're a team. there's a difference between helping out when the techs are busy, emptying full urinals since you're in the room anyway, bringing in ginger ale because you're on your way with the phenergen, etc., and saying "oh, no, i'll do it!" to every delegatable task. and if the nurses you're working with seem to need "help" when you're around, do help them. but make sure they help you. and there's nothing wrong with saying "after i finish my flowsheet here, i'll be right there" (to non-urgent things, of course.)

off the soapbox....

*~jess~*