Interns taking notes ‘must stop’
AN inspection report at Sligo University Hospital has recommended that interns stop taking clinical notes.
The report carried out by the Medical Council on doctor intern training stated there were concerns about the practice of note taking. “On occasion some interns were reportedly asked to write clinical notes on a patient they themselves had not seen, in particular, one directorate where the Registrar reportedly appeared unwilling to write clinical notes. The team recommend that the practice of requiring interns to take notes on patients they themselves had not seen cease with immediate effect. Another issue of concern was a report of a Medical Registrar refusing to write notes in patients’ charts and this being left to interns to complete regardless if they had seen the patient or not.”
The team also noted that interns felt nurses did not regard them as doctors but as staff employed to carry out certain tasks. The team recommended that leadership in the Nursing Directorate could address this issue.