white boards in patients room

Nurses General Nursing

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]]Hi, I am in need of feedback from all my fellow medical peps in regards to white boards in hospital settings. Our new ACU/CCU departments will be completed soon and I would love to hear some comments on the white boards you use in your patients rooms...things you wish the boards had and things that are not utilized. We are a Critical Care Access Hospital and have been looking at the Chameleon, Magnetic Concepts and Visicare brands thus far. Any sugestions?? Thank-you kindly for your time.

S. Hoiness, RN

Specializes in ACU/Hospice.

I like the others section also. do you recall how the size of your boards and if they would be better even larger? thanks so much for your input. you Rock!

Specializes in ACU/Hospice.

HIPPA sensitivity is always an issue as are other areas. like weight!!! some of our staff put pt's wt on our existing boards at admit and it never seems to get erased. they better not advertise MY weight! LOL!

pertinent and not Personal info. thanks so much for your input!

Specializes in Med-Surg.
With all these white boards in pt rooms (particularly semi-pvt ones) how is confidentiality maintained? If a pt's physician, Dr. FamousCancerOncologist is written, wouldn't that be a BIG CUE to what the pt's dx may be???

I really can't see much else, other than pt name & nurse, being written without giving too much possibility for divulging sensitive info.

I could see an issue with having too much information on a white board in a semi-private room. Thankfully, all of ours are private.

I think you have to use common sense in what you write and don't write on a patients whiteboard. What works for one patient might not for the next.

In general though, I find my patients love having their physicians names and specialty on their boards and almost always thank me for doing it. They also seem to like having the POC written. Patients comment about how they like that I know what is going on and involve them in the POC. They really like seeing things get checked off.

I have patients thank or or even request that I write the next time that their pain medication is available on their board. Let's them know that I know, that I care, and keeps them from calling as much.

Part of our discharge and inpatient surveys ask about communication and privacy. Patients always complain about not knowing POC, not knowing which physician is which, and feeling like there is a lack of communication and/or the patient doesn't know what is going on. Of all of the privacy concerns/complaints made, but I haven't seen one about the whiteboards yet.

Again though, I think you just have to use common sense.

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

This is a problem w/ double rooms in general. It's not just the white boards, but team rounding--esp. in a teaching hospitals where a gaggle of residents and med students are involved. Plus all the pt teaching that we RNs do. Very very difficult to be discreet w/ another pt and family in the room. :no:

With all these white boards in pt rooms (particularly semi-pvt ones) how is confidentiality maintained? If a pt's physician, Dr. FamousCancerOncologist is written, wouldn't that be a BIG CUE to what the pt's dx may be???

I really can't see much else, other than pt name & nurse, being written without giving too much possibility for divulging sensitive info.

Our "white boards" have glass covering a paper template. The paper template ensures that we are not tied down to a format that might not work over time. We have times and lines for hourly rounding, a faces pain scale and sections for nurse, nurse manager, date, ambulation, diet...

These boards really only work if your patient is coherent and can see well. I find that family is reassured by them, especially if you add something (anything), while you are talking to them. My favorite use is to write questions that the patient has for the doctor on them, that way the patient remembers during the three seconds of doctor rounding they might get a day.

Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

We have very simple boards. Room #/Phone # Attending, RN, CNA, poss d/c date and goals for the day There is room to write misc. stuff like pain med schedule or family #s. I have heard from others that the fancy boards that have a lot of information is a waste-too time consuming and it is worse when they are not updated each shift.

our white boards are large and have the room# and phone# and our managers name and # pre printed. They are divided into nurses name, date, mobility needs, fall risk, doc's name, last void, aide name, PRN pain med due time (which makes it seem like the pain meds are DUE rather than as needed) and then daily goals, d/c date and patient questions. They are HUGE!

and I hate them because it is one more QA talk point when the clinical coordinator rounds in the morning and you haven't updated the last void - because you don't have an aide and have 5 call bells going off at the same time to toilet people! PITA

Specializes in Progressive Care Unit.
HIPPA sensitivity is always an issue as are other areas. like weight!!! some of our staff put pt's wt on our existing boards at admit and it never seems to get erased. they better not advertise MY weight! LOL!

pertinent and not Personal info. thanks so much for your input!

Our whiteboards have a space for weights because we are a heart failure unit. It is a quick reference for patients and nurses to see how they are trending, and reinforces our heart failure education program.

Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

in patient rooms they are small. We have stick on letters stating "nurse", "CNA" "Today's Date". Each individual writes in their first name. The first to do so adds the date. No big deal.

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