How do you approach the documentation of patient records? Do you have specific strategies that you use?
Documentation of clinical encounters in patient records is extremely important and much of this responsibility rests on the shoulders of the registered nurses. As you look to join a reputable Nurse Fellowship, documentation and record-keeping may go beyond patient charting. The interviewer is asking this question to determine how seriously you take accurate and timely documentation and other administrative duties and to see if you use any methods to improve efficiencies for documentation.
"I am new to nursing, as I just finished nursing school, but I understand how important clinical documentation is. During my clinical rotations--when I had the opportunity to document my clinical encounters--I made sure to document everything and before signing the note, I would double-check to ensure everything was correct. Since I am new to this and have not had a chance to develop my own efficiencies, I cannot speak to that, but I can say that my background in IT project management will allow me to think outside the box, and I can see myself coming up with ideas for standardization. If I am fortunate enough to join your fellowship program, learning and mastering the EMR would be one of my first goals during orientation."
To effectively answer this question, be prepared to talk about how you approach documentation from beginning to end and give examples of any strategies that you use to improve efficiency. If clinical encounters, medications, procedures, vital signs, and other information are not documented properly, unintended consequences could occur, some being dire. Also, if you've had other administrative duties that involved record-keeping, be sure to highlight those experiences for your team of interviewers.
