Kathy Quan RN BSN experienced freelance writer, author, blogger

I have been writing since I was about 12. My father bought an old upright typewriter (what's that??). I was fascinated with it, but quickly became bored of just typing nonsense. I had to write something.

I began by writing about a young female private investigator who was clumsy with her gun. When I let my cousin read my first story she laughed so hard I thought she was going to hurt herself. I didn't think it was supposed to be that funny!! (I was certainly no Sue Grafton or Janet Evanovich!) I think I buried the pages in the back yard, but I continued to write. I did not however, become a great typist, and to this day I still have my own system of keyboarding.

When I became a nurse, documentation was not a problem for me, except to say I had to learn to shorten my comments. I couldn't write a book about each patient.

In my experience, especially as a Quality Improvement Specialist, I have found that most nurses have a few brief sentences that they use over and over again and don't venture beyond them.

Mentoring nurses in producing better documentation has become a passion of mine. One that sadly I haven't had enough time to devote to. But I hope to expand on this in my home health care websites.

Effective Communication with patients is essential. Carefully written instructions are not always the best tool if used alone, but when used on conjunction with good patient teaching, they can be a vital part of successful treatment and compliance.