I am reviewing records on a case and I am summarizing them into a written chronological report for my attorney-client. I have received multiple records from different facilities and I noticed that some of the facilities’ records are duplicates of records I received from other facilities. Do I still include them in my report even though they are repeats?
Tracy Z., RN, CLNC
Hi Tracy,
First establish that the records are truly duplicate records. In your chronology, list only the original source document one time.
e.g. Martin Hope Hospital p. 35
e.g. Dr. James p. 14
Unless the duplicate record has relevance (e.g. the provider states they were not aware of something when they had records containing that information), I would suggest attaching all the duplicate records as a separate section labeled “duplicate records from other facilities and providers.” Confirm with your attorney-client that this approach works for her.
What a great question! I can’t tell you how many times I have seen what seems like miles and miles of duplicate records (I do mostly personal injury case) and have always named the original source in my chronology but never thought to track them so the attorney knows who all else got a copy. I will start doing this, even though the work seems rather redundant. I have used them in the past to show (e.g.: “hey, doc knew about the fracture at (this date) because he had the MRI scan (or whatever the case may be)”, and added that source to my chronologies, and clients love when we find things like this. I have wondered about what to do with the duplicates in the past but never thought to ask, so Tracy, I am glad you did!
This brings up a good question: I bought a program at conference the year it was in San Diego, one that I do chronologies on. We had to really tweak it to get it to do them, but it puts out a very professional looking document. Does anyone know of a better user-friendly program for chronologies? My tax man this year told me I made so much $$ I’d better start putting money back into my business, so a chronology program is what I want next. Any suggestions out there?
Tracy, I don’t know if this is your first report, but congratulations. I love writing reports. If you haven’t taken the NACLNC® Apprenticeship, it is not too late. The report writing skills I learned were invaluable when I prepared a 12 page report for an attorney. In fact, I also used one of the case reports that Vickie provided with the CLNC® Certification Program that was written by her as a template for my report, especially the specific deviation section. Good luck to you.
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What a great question! I can’t tell you how many times I have seen what seems like miles and miles of duplicate records (I do mostly personal injury case) and have always named the original source in my chronology but never thought to track them so the attorney knows who all else got a copy. I will start doing this, even though the work seems rather redundant. I have used them in the past to show (e.g.: “hey, doc knew about the fracture at (this date) because he had the MRI scan (or whatever the case may be)”, and added that source to my chronologies, and clients love when we find things like this. I have wondered about what to do with the duplicates in the past but never thought to ask, so Tracy, I am glad you did!
This brings up a good question: I bought a program at conference the year it was in San Diego, one that I do chronologies on. We had to really tweak it to get it to do them, but it puts out a very professional looking document. Does anyone know of a better user-friendly program for chronologies? My tax man this year told me I made so much $$ I’d better start putting money back into my business, so a chronology program is what I want next. Any suggestions out there?
Tracy, I don’t know if this is your first report, but congratulations. I love writing reports. If you haven’t taken the NACLNC ® Apprenticeship, it is not too late. The report writing skills I learned were invaluable when I prepared a 12 page report for an attorney. In fact, I also used one of the case reports that Vickie provided with the CLNC® Certification Program that was written by her as a template for my report, especially the specific deviation section. Good luck to you.