How long should it take to write a progress note?

[@ReynaldoIvanPena]

1 Minute! Tops! I’m done! I can’t do this anymore Melissa 😵‍💫 -MSW, MST Therapist

[@MaelisaMcCaffrey]

How about five? 😉

[@ReynaldoIvanPena]

@@MaelisaMcCaffrey that’s much better than 20m

[@disiluzhund]

My biggest concern was not doubting myself but perhaps adding more than I needed to add for the sake of recall. How do you trust that you will remember which client said what in session and not confuse yourself if you're not keeping track? That's where I wrote too much info. I had my clinical notes and I had my side notes that I kept for myself, for recall and follow up with the client, like homework, reading material, specific personal conflict or step for client to take, if they avoided, etc. I could write books with fruitful sessions and most of mine were. I got burned out though. The software template was archaic, had no checkboxes. I spent my weekends creating my own, which reduced the time from one hour per note to 15 to 30 minutes. But there were insurance auths due every week on 1-3 clients, 1-4 treatment plans due every month, psych assessments per client, plus 12-15 weekly progress notes due and I literally got 3 hours of sleep on a good night. It was never going to get better and I walked.

[@MaelisaMcCaffrey]

That’s definitely a balance - documenting enough for all the requirements but then you may need to document more for yourself, either for memory or other reasons. Theres some personal preference there.

[@TransformativeGuidedMedi-no9ee]

I have to ask...bullet points? Really? Please, please do a video using bullet points with a fictional client. May an example in response to this post. Please and thank you:)

[@lauralofy1676]

This would be wonderful; never gonna happen for me. I just cannot do all this stuff so quickly and it is such a struggle

[@MaelisaMcCaffrey]

It's about the methods! Everyone will take a different amount of time... some people can do 5 minute notes and some can't get under 15 minutes. But if it's more than 15 minutes there is likely something else going on. Checkboxes that can be personalized to the client but keep you writing only phrases instead of full sentences can be a HUGE help.

[@henryhealing444]

I recently worked for one of the large national online group practices. They allowed 2 minutes for notes per person up to 8 people, in each group. They insisted that all progress notes were canned pre-written answers. Two minutes.

[@MaelisaMcCaffrey]

That is ludicrous to me. It would be nearly impossible to write personalized notes for all clients in that way. That is not a sustainable schedule and is unlikely to create quality notes. Too bad.

[@joane9096]

Thank you

[@patriciamorgan2501]

You're awesome