Brain Sheet

What the heck is a brain sheet?

Have you ever been at clinical and the nurse ask you if you have your brain? Well I hope you know they are not referring to your actual brain, but rather your brain sheet. A brain sheet is an organizational tool that nurses use to take shift reports and make key notes of any changes. You can also use your brain sheet for assessments and medication administration. It does not matter if it complicated or simple. If it works for you then good. Keeping each individual patient's medical information organized is the goal. 

Because I am not an RN yet, I cannot give you a true example of my brain sheet. I will be showing you what I use for clinical. Typically we have only focused on one or two patients. In a month or so I will be having a full patient load and will re do the post for a more up to date brain. 

So first I start with just a plain white printer paper. I fold it in half and then half again so that I have four squares. I use each quadrant for different things. I use the front side of the page for one patient and the back for my second. As I previously mentioned I use this during clinical, so one of my quadrants is left blank for any important information I need to gather for a case study.

Hopefully you are able to tell from the picture that the top left quadrant is for identifying my patient and his/her assessment. The top right quadrant is where I place important lab values, any important procedures/imaging, and other critical information that I receive during report. The bottom left quadrant is my "time schedule" with check boxes. Lastly, the bottom right is my catch all place.

During clinical I use a multi-color pen from Bic. I write allergies or critical information in red. I take report in one color (ex. black) and use another (ex. blue) to note any changes I observed in my assessment. 

I have also included brain sheet that I have acquired at clinical from an RN. 

Hope that helps!