BellaOnline Forums Career Nursing Presidential Address - Nurses

One of my nursing pet-peeves is when physicians and other health care providers scribble their orders, notes and names in patient medical records. I often want to scream��I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT SAYS!�

If we calculated the time nurses spent on trying to decipher "scribbled handwriting," we would realize how much nursing time is actually wasted each day! I was pleasantly surprised when Obama mentioned this very thing in his Presidential Address regarding the Economic Stimulus package and EMRs (Electronic Medical Records) this evening! I know that nurses are often responsible for getting EMRs up and running, training others and troubleshooting, but think of all the time we will save when deciphering scribble is a thing of the past!

Any thoughts?

While EMR will definitely help, it really depends on which type they used. The health industry has talked for years about making physicians type in their orders on computers, but nothing has changed. What would really make a difference is a national nursing license and standardize nurse/pt ratio's. Currently, the health care industry is running scared. Hospitals have stopped hiring nurses, cancelled contracts and in the process are working their staff in to exhaustion. It is going to be a long road that we will have to travel, but hopefully there will be a better situation at the end.