SALLY KNIGHT and COLLEAGUES describe the development of a nursing observation chart for use in their resuscitation room

For some time the A&E department at Ipswich had been using either a general hospital observation chart or a locally designed trauma chart for critical care patients in the resuscitation room. The team of nurses involved in the modernisation of the resuscitation room also wanted to address the area of documentation. It had been noticed that the current material was inadequate; either parts of the documentation were consistently not used or additional information was recorded on the bottom of the existing chart, or in the A&E card.