Care plans suck

They really do. It takes me forever to write it all out, and I can rattle it off verbally in about a minute and a half.

Fortunately, my clinical instructor thinks they're annoying too. She MAKES us do verbal care plans on every patient every day. Which is BRILLIANT. She has a formula for it too: First start with all the assessments you need to make, then all the labs you would check, then all the interventions you can do WITHOUT calling ANYBODY, then the interventions you can do WITH other services (pt, ot, nutrition, et cet) THEN the medications, THEN things you have to call the docs for.

She says that this way we'll get into the habit of always looking for our independent actions FIRST, and in many cases we won't HAVE to wake a doctor up, which will make EVERYONE happier.

Have I mentioned that my clinical instructor rocks? She still works PRN on the floor where she teaches, and knows EVERYONE. This floor is awesome, and the aides kick some major ass.