Workflow Changes

Adding Bedside Charting

In her article Rebecca Hendren noted ten ways to increase nurses' time at the bedside. One of the ways she suggests is bedside documentation. She notes, that charting at the bedside improves patient safety, but it's also been shown to save time. She also notes that bedside reporting and hourly rounding can also increase this bedside time. Adding to the time you spend with your patient and their families not only increases the safety of the patient and saves time, but it also can lead to more accurate, real-time charting, reduces errors in medication administration, and can lead to better and more frequent observations of your patient's condition, thereby, perhaps allowing for better and faster responses to changes in that condition.

Having real-time bedside charting also allows other providers to be viewing the data in the instant that it is recorded, giving these providers the chance to act more quickly to solve issues as they arise. In her article, Laura Stokowski notes that probably the single most significant effect on workflow prompted by the emergence of electronic medical records (EMRs) is the real time charting that occurs. If the EMR is not used in this manner, it negates the effectiveness of the immediacy of the data being used by the rest of team.

Another issue that often arose with paper charting was the need for nurses to stay after their shifts to finish all the handwritten notes and flowsheets. The usage of real time bedside charting has reduced this need, thereby saving money in overtime costs.

Nursing Management conducted a survey of 1000 nurses to learn about the technology they use. They found that 49.9% of them stated that 81 to 100% of their charting was at the bedside, while 56.1% stated that the charting was done at computers at the nurses' station. This leaves much room for improvement. Increasing bedside chart will lead to improved patient outcomes, more accurate real time charting, and more satisfied, less stressed nurses.

References

Evans, O. (2014) Hospitals to replace bedside charts with iPads. Oxford Mail. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/10914011

 

Hader, R. (2013) How connected are you? Nursing Managementt. February. 19-23.

Hendren, R. (2010) Ten ways to increase nurses' time at the bedside. HealthLeaders Media. Retrieved from www.healthleadersmedia.com

Stokowski, L.A. (2013). Electronic nursing documentation: charting new territory. Retrieved from www.medscape.com.