Card, three by five inches, used in Card Index
As the discharged charts are handed in, the corresponding card in the index is withdrawn and filed away in a drawer containing either the dead or the discharged cases according to circumstances. This is a very simple way of keeping records, and of balancing from day to day the number of patients on the visiting list. This balance may be made every week or every month, as desired, for it is a simple method and reduces to a minimum the opportunities for mistakes in addition and subtraction. Needless to say, no one but the superintendent or her secretary should have access to, or touch these files in any way.
Nurse’s Daily Report Sheet. Beside the patients’ charts, the nurse must fill in a day sheet, or daily report of her work, to be handed to the superintendent, or to whomever she is responsible. This sheet accounts for her time and occupation all through the day. Beginning with the time she goes on duty in the morning, she will record each visit to each patient, the service rendered, and the time spent on him. She will also record the time she reached her office for lunch, and the time she left it for her afternoon rounds, also the hour at which she went off duty for the day. A record of this kind means additional clerical work, but how else is the nurse to account for her day? And be it noted, it is always a satisfaction to the nurse to place on record the summary of her day’s work.
Nurse’s Daily Report Sheet, seven by nine inches
This daily report sheet is of great value to the superintendent: without it, there is no way in which she can estimate either the quality or the quantity of each nurse’s work. A glance at the report will show whether the day has been light or heavy; it will show the number of new patients and ill patients, and how many bed-baths and dressings were given; how much time was spent in calling on doctors, dispensaries, social workers, and so forth, and arranging houses for fumigation. In short, a record of this kind shows the day’s work at a glance, and is the only way in which it can be satisfactorily accounted for, and if necessary verified.
Day Sheet, used for summarizing the day’s work. From this sheet the weekly and monthly reports are made out
True, this information may be obtained by going over the charts one by one, and verifying the records made upon them. But this is a clumsy and laborious way of doing it. If a nurse has two hundred charts in her box, and pays fifteen visits a day, it would be necessary to search through the whole boxful of charts in order to find the fifteen cases visited. A day sheet therefore, is not only a simple and practical way of recording a day’s work, but it is a protection both to the nurse and the work itself.
Weekly and Monthly Reports. From her daily report sheet, the nurse should make up a weekly or monthly report, to be turned in at specified intervals. This weekly or monthly balance sheet should be presented to the superintendent, or to the officers of the association to whom the nurse is responsible. Herewith is given a sample of the monthly report cards used in Baltimore, but again attention is called to the fact that these are not the last word in desirability. In using them as models, they would of course be altered to meet local needs or conditions, and enlarged or changed to suit other requirements. These monthly reports should be carefully filed away; they are needed for the construction of the annual report, and it may be necessary to refer to them on other occasions.