Ambiguity

Recently I had to attend a course on recording and reporting. Before I begin I must point out that this was a course for any company to attend so does not necessarily reflect on our carers.








I went along thinking that it was a bit of a waste of time to be honest, I mean all you have to do is write down anything you do and report to the office anything that you feel needs immediate attention.Having said that there were a few eye openers  What some of you may not know is that these reports are kept for up to seven years and can be used in a court of law. So potentially anything we write down could be held against us in a law suit if we get it wrong. Quite a responsibility when you consider that care workers are on about the same money as someone stacking shelves in a supermarket. Because of this you have to cover your back, stick to facts and write down names of people you have reported to etc. One thing that I and many other carers are guilty of is writing ‘All OK on exit’. Apparently some carers have been hauled into court because they have written that simple statement down and an individual has taken a turn for the worse after they had left. The carer then had to explain to the court, why they did not notice that he was about to have a heart attack.



On the lighter side was the ambiguity of abbreviations; It is something that we shouldn't do, but again many carers are guilty of writing things like MOW for meals on wheels and DN for District nurse.

The ones that made me laugh were the following: -

I noticed his BO when he went to the toilet.
PA was tied to his bed.
John AWOL


Imagine what the family would have thought if they had read them. see the innocent explanations below

BO - Bowels Opened

AWOL - All Well On Leaving

PA -pendant alarm