Writing expectations in

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This article is to help increase the future nurses awareness of the importance of learning technical writing skills in
order to become a qualified professional in the healthcare field. The nursing field is enormous and it is essential
to understand how to write during the nursing career. There are different career pathways. For instance,
hospitals, nursing homes, community centers, hospices organizations, rehabilitation clinics, public health clinics,
or a doctors office are some of the career pathways. Many healthcare facilities are organized in units such
as cardio, pediatric, obstetric, emergency, surgical, oncology as well as many others. The nurse has the most
direct contact with a patient. That increases the importance of writing well to ensure that the nurse will evaluate
and provide all the information about the patient while charting and documenting the patients medical record.
A future nurse needs to know how to communicate with different types of people. For example, nurses may
write for doctors, other departments, patients, family members, and other nurses. Keep in mind that writing
as a Professional Nurse provides three general, though important, rules working nurses should keep in
mind while writing reports and charts and while communicating with doctors and patients.(Purdue` owl).
One of the rules explain concepts to a specific audience. For example, you might write a report about
a medical procedure for your boss or write to a patients family about how to treat a medical condition.

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Understanding the specifics of technical writing can be

valuable and help in your specific field of study and career
goals. Nursing is a flexible career choice because there
is the option to work in different settings based on your
personal preferences. The choice is a significant part of
the path to becoming a nurse. As a nurse you can also
work as a manager, supervisor, or educator. We use
motivational type writings to encourage our employees
to strive for the overall company goal of having the best
customer service. and care for our seniors. When we
write our policies and procedures the culture we are trying to
accomplish is at the forefront of our writings. (Windbigler).

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The purpose of technical writing is to effectively communicate.

The profession of nursing includes various careers
pathways and provides different levels of education such as
Associates Degree (RN- Registered Nurse), Baccalaureate
Degree (BNS), Masters (MSN), and Doctoral degrees (NPNurse Practitioner). Writing expectations are significant and
they should not be taken lightly. Part of a higher degree
may include the expectation that the applicant will write
short articles or other documents about nursing research.

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The best nurses are precise, fast, organized and have a critical thinking abilities. All these are not just important
but are crucial in the nurses career. All the information about the patient can have a major impact in someones
life. Most of the writing are about the patient documentation and facts. Many of these documents can go to a
court during an investigation. If care or treatment due to a patient is not recorded, it can be assumed that it has
not happened. Poor record keeping can therefore mean you are found Negligent. Even if you are confident that
you provided the correct care. This may cause you to lose your right to practice.(Community eye health journey).
Important writing rules:

Be accurate, check puctuaction, grammar, and write legibly.

Be objective.
Be short and clear. Give a full description of your assessment and the care given
Be a critical thinker by analysing your patient and make sure your decisions will be the best for their health.
Be professional and avoid personal feelings.

Remember to recognize the value of what the nurses do. Respect the patient and practice what you learned in your
technical writing class. Therefore, you will be an excellent professional.

Writing expectations in
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OBJECTIVE

RESOURCES

Tompkinds, J, Angeli, E (2012). Writing as a professional nurse,

hppt: owl.english.purdue.edu/exercises/
Norman, L. The importance of Good Writing Skill in the Field of Nursing,
Htpp: www.ehow.com/info_importance writing skill field nursing.htm
Windbigler, A. (2015). Email interview.

By Kely Minen