[Nice to meet you] Not to finish the record, but to move care forward. A record of a nurse struggling with Notion for 4 months

While keeping records of pressure ulcer care, I have always felt a small sense of discomfort.

That is that the 'treatment' and the 'record' are separated as if they were completely different tasks.

Isn't it a daily occurrence that records are put on the back burner because you are too busy?

Originally, pressure ulcer care should be one continuous flow.

You 'observe' the affected area, 'treat' it with appropriate medication, 'evaluate' its condition, and watch over the 'progress' for the next step.

However, what is the reality in the field? In between busy tasks, or after work is finished, you squeeze out records as 'input work' while facing a computer or paper.

Has the current system and the way of recording become a purpose in itself before we knew it?

I don't mean to say that 'existing software is bad'.

I just thought that there must be a form of recording that is closer to the natural flow of the field and moves care forward.

While treating, while observing, while thinking. In that flow, the record is naturally completed.

Seeking such a mechanism, I picked up a tool called Notion and started trial and error.

It all started because I wanted to make the calculation of 'DESIGN-R®2020' easier

The trigger was a very personal and urgent worry.

I wanted to make the score calculation of 'DESIGN-R®2020', which is an index for pressure ulcer evaluation, more accurate and more efficient.

Evaluation in the field is still mostly analog.

I follow the paper quick reference table with my finger and type it into another recording software.

'Can't this work be smarter and left to a machine?' That light feeling was the beginning of everything when I started making a Notion sheet.

Two months of immersion and a 'struggle' with AI

However, once I started, walls that could not be solved by simple calculations appeared one after another.

In DESIGN-R®, the items to be evaluated change depending on the depth (d) of the wound.

Even if it is entered as data, from a medical perspective, there are cases that could be logically contradictory.

It is not just about 'getting a total score'.

If it is not a 'medically correct evaluation', it is meaningless as a medical tool.

The moment I realized that, my 'crafting' went to a deeper level.

I am not originally knowledgeable about IT. I had no idea how to use Notion either.

From that state, I started spending most of my days off staring at my smartphone or in front of my computer.

If there was something I didn't understand, I would take a screenshot of the screen, send it to the AI, and check the operation.

When an error occurred, I would rewrite the formula, and when another error occurred, I would ponder it again.

To those around me, it just looked like I was silently facing the screen alone.

It was a lonely time of 'crafting alone and being self-satisfied alone', but the joy of the moment when a complex formula worked correctly for the first time was irreplaceable.

For the first two months, I was solely focused on wanting to make my own calculations easier.

Until 'lonely crafting' turns into a 'gift for someone'

However, another two months passed from the time I started thinking about releasing it as a template rather than ending it as a 'tool just for myself'.

To elevate it from the stage of 'as long as I can use it' to 'a tool that anyone can use without hesitation,' I treated AI as an 'objective reviewer' and engaged in repeated dialogues.

'Where would someone seeing this screen for the first time get lost?' 'Will this operational explanation be understood by busy nurses in the field?' That is how I reviewed the structure and refined the design.

That dedication to the 'invisible parts' required another two months.

'Will this really be useful in the field?' 'Has this become a self-serving system?' After repeating self-questioning and brainstorming with AI, rewriting the blueprints, and pondering in various directions, I realized four months had passed.

It was also a time when a lonely craft gradually turned into a 'gift for someone'.

A record of four months where a nurse, who is not particularly knowledgeable about IT, talked with AI and dedicated every holiday to struggling with the screen.

'Not to finish documentation, but to move care forward'Let me tell you about the form I arrived at.

What supports 'evaluation' was the foundation of daily 'treatment'

A few months after I started struggling, when the form of the DESIGN-R® automatic calculation (3) finally came into view, I noticed a certain 'structure'.

To perform evaluations accurately, the premise of 'which site is being discussed (2)' must be organized.

And above all, if you evaluate once a week, it is essential that the 'daily treatment records (4)' for the six days leading up to the evaluation day are accumulated correctly and truthfully.

To make the 'point' of evaluation easier, the 'line' of daily treatment must be organized.

From there, my plan expanded even further, and a blueprint for a huge system spread in my mind, wondering, 'Can I automatically generate assessments (5) during the evaluation process?'

However, the more ideals I packed in, the further away completion became.

Suddenly, I returned to the starting point.

'Where is the field struggling the most right now?'
Advanced automatic assessment is important, but
before that, in the midst of daily busyness,

'Who did today's treatment and how far did they get?'
'What did I apply last time?'
'I heard it in the handover, but I can't be sure until I take the treatment set and look at the affected area'

I felt that this kind of obvious but urgent 'work traffic control' is what is most needed in the field right now.

Documentation should not be something you write after the fact, but a 'progress log' of care. Through my ongoing struggle, I reached a certain conviction.

What is missing from current pressure ulcer management, even before advanced assessment functions, is a perspective on 'workflow (task management)'.

Until now, all documentation has been 'reactive'.

After all procedures are finished, I enter 'I did this today' based on memory.

In this way, documentation is just an 'obligation' and nothing but a burden.

What I wanted to create was a form like a progress log, where I can see 'what is finished now' in real-time while performing procedures.

The procedures to be done today are lined up as cards (tasks) on the smartphone screen.

If I press a button the moment the procedure is finished, the record is completed on the spot.

Before I wonder, 'What did I apply last time?', the answer is already there.

This is not just about 'saving time'.

It is a system that leaves the judgment of 'what to do next' to the system, allowing humans to focus on the skin right in front of them, 'how to care for it'.

From documentation as 'a task to be finished' to 'a guide to safely advance' care
.

This shift in perspective is the main reason why I decided to release this starting with the 'procedure log'.

Starting with 'what works in the field'

To be honest, the system I envisioned is still incomplete.

Honestly, I don't even know if I will be able to reach the end.

However, the 'daily procedure record' mechanism born from my struggle might be useful to someone who is fighting in the field at this very moment.

"I want to leave calculations and management to machines so I can spend more time focusing on care."
The things nurses and caregivers should really be spending their time on are not computer screens, but the skin and expressions of the patients right in front of them.

"Rather than waiting for a perfect full set, I want someone to try touching it starting from the minimum unit that can actually be used in clinical practice."
With that in mind, I decided to extract the two parts of the overall concept that are most directly linked to on-site movements: (2) "Site Master" and (4) "Treatment Log" and release them in advance.

Why publish on "note" instead of in my own familiar workplace?

To be honest, I don't have the courage right now to propose "Why don't you try using this?" at my own workplace.

In medical and nursing care settings, there are rules that have been built up over many years.

It is a major premise to input data into designated software in a designated format.

Bringing a new tool into that environment might just create resistance, such as "Do I have to learn something else?" or "I'm not having any trouble as it is."

And above all, I was afraid that this "passion" itself, which I built up by dedicating all my holidays and struggling with AI, might be a bit too heavy for people close to me and that they might be put off by it... Maybe I was afraid of being asked, "Notion? What's that?"

I don't want to pretend this trial and error never happened

Even so, I didn't want to end these four months of trial and error all by myself.

The joy I felt when I fought with errors, rebuilt formulas, and finally saw "🚩Today's remaining tasks" lined up on my smartphone screen.

The answer I arrived at in my own way: "Records to move care forward."

I felt it would be too much of a waste to "pretend this process never happened."

Perhaps somewhere in the wide world, there is someone who is being chased by daily records while harboring the same "small sense of discomfort" as I am.

For that person, this incomplete "treatment log" might become one option to light up their dark path.

Thinking that, I decided to publish it in this place called note, rather than in a place close to me.

Finally

This tool is not a major innovation.

It is a mechanism to visualize procedures as tasks and slightly streamline the workflow on the floor.

I don't know if I can finish building it to the end. It might be called difficult to use.

Even so, if you read this article and feel,

"I want to make documentation not to finish it, but to move care forward,"

if even one person feels that way, my four months of trial and error will be rewarded.

Let's start with this "first step." I hope that the scenery of your workplace will become a little lighter starting tomorrow.

🎁 Regarding the release of "Pressure Ulcer Treatment Management (②④)"

The system released on the official marketplace is built assuming the integration of the following five databases, which ultimately cover everything from "user management" to "aggregation."

① Pressure Ulcer Chart (User Management)
② Pressure Ulcer Site Master (Released this time)
③ DESIGN-R®2020 Evaluation Record
④ Treatment Execution Record (Released this time)
⑤ Progress Record (A/P Log) (Assessment/Plan)
◎Aggregation (Analysis and Utilization)

Currently, it is a "prototype" built steadily in tandem with AI while imagining the busyness and rules of the workplace, and it consists only of② Pressure Ulcer Site Master and ④ Treatment Execution Record.

I would like to verify how well it functions in an actual workplace with your help from here on out.

I don't know yet if I can reach the end, but I would be happy if I could grow it together with the real voices of the workplace by sharing this first step.

Currently in the midst of trial and error! Please try it out as a first step to turn "ideals on paper" into "weapons for the workplace."

Not to finish documentation, but to move care forward.

Notion templates supporting the care site are now available

If you would like to see the continuation of this trial and error as a "system," I have summarized it here.

[👉 [Definitive Edition] List of Notion templates that support the care site with a "system"]