Summary of Interview

                For my paper about writing in the nursing field, I interviewed Jennifer L. Wickliffe. Jennifer is a certified nursing assistant (CNA) at the University of Louisville Hospital. She mentions the high importance of writing in our interview, especially how important it is in the healthcare field. As a CNA, Jennifer doesn’t have much to write and the writing she does is very easy; she just has to make sure that everything she documents is correct. For nurses, however, the writing is extremely time consuming and tedious; many nurses stay after hours to finish “charting.” Jennifer explains the specific type of writing that she and her fellow healthcare co-workers do in this quote:

For me, I write what I did for the patient such as bathing, their I/O’s (intake/outtake), vitals, and if they refused the care I was giving. Nurses and Doctors have a little more writing to do. The Nurses have to chart the medicine that was given, any medical (errors if happened), hourly rounding, assessments etc. Doctors write orders, diagnoses, discharges, etc. (Jennifer Wickliffe)

Nurses and doctors spend about 80%-90% of their time writing daily, while CNA’s may spend about 10%-15% of their time writing daily.

                In a more technical sense of writing, Jennifer mentions that a formal tone is always used in nurses writing. Everything that they write is professional, respectful, and contains correct grammar. The main audience includes other adult healthcare professionals and lawyers. For nursing, MLA and APA format is used for writing. Research is used depending on certain situations, as shown in this quote:

CNAs don't really do any research, though I may go back in the charts to pervious charting from my coworkers to see if the patient had a bath and what they refused. Nurses might do some research on certain medicine or diagnoses so they can give better care to the patient. Doctors may do research as well, I am not for sure; but I would say they would have to do some research on a patient to better diagnose and treat him or her. (Jennifer Wickliffe)

Overall, the writing for nurses is important because the information being written is crucial to a patient’s health. They must make sure that the written information is professional, respectful, and most importantly, correct.