How do I keep up with charting on a busy shift?

You chart well when you have a moment to breathe. The problem is the busy shift, when patients keep coming and the notes pile up behind you until they bury you at the end. That backlog is not carelessness. It is what happens when there is more work than hours. The trick is not charting faster at the end but charting smaller throughout. A line at the bedside, a quick note between tasks, keeps the mountain from forming. Little and often beats one exhausted marathon after your shift should have ended. Pick one or two moments in your routine, after each medication pass, say, to jot the essentials right then. Even a few words in the moment save you an hour later. Protect those small windows and the burial at the end starts to shrink.