NCP transition

This has been a hectic week with one of the two full-time dietitians being away on vacation. I've been trying to pick up some of this slack, although sometimes I almost feel like I slow things down because each chart note must be reviewed before I can enter it into the electronic medical record.

Since starting here in May there has been a lot of progress in how the notes are formatted. Previously, the dietitians had their own system of charting - not really using SOAP, NCP, etc., but a shorthand way that was quick and includes all of the pertinent information. After speaking with Mrs. Holliday for our conference call, however, my preceptor was shocked to learn that nearly 3/4 of the hospitals in NC are using the NCP to chart. While there were plans in the works to eventually transition to NCP, progress was slow. Since that phone call, I have charted all of my notes using the NCP and the other dietitians are using this method for 90% of their notes, with the exception of patients who have been here for a while and were orginally charted using the old method. It has been a valuable learning experience to help them with the transition and also be looked to for guidance in using this properly. There are still some areas that need to be tweaked, however. We are currently not using a Monitoring and Evaluation section, but instead it is being lumped in with the Intervention. Otherwise, the transition has been relatively quick and painless. Although I guess that is easier for me to say since I never had to learn two ways of charting.