Focus Charting System As Nursing Documentation Tool

The Focus Charting system has been designed by nurses for documentation of frequent/repetitive care and to encourage viewing the client from a positive rather than a negative (problem only) perspective. Charting is focused on client and nursing concerns, with the focal point of client status and the associated nursing care. A Focus is usually a client problem/concern or nursing diagnosis but is not a medical diagnosis or a nursing task/treatment (e.g., wound care, indwelling catheter insertion, tube feeding).

We track what is happening to the client at any given moment by recording of assessment, interventions, and evaluation using Data, Action, and Response (DAR) categories. Thus, the four components of this charting system are:

1. Focus: Nursing diagnosis, client problem/concern, signs/ symptoms of potential importance (e.g., fever, dysrhythmia, edema), a significant event or change in status or specific standards of care/agency policy.
2. Data: Subjective/objective information describing and/or supporting the Focus.
3. Action: Immediate/future nursing actions based on assessment and consistent with/complementary to the goals and nursing action recorded in the client plan of care.
4. Response: Describes the effects of interventions and whether the goal was met.

You can find charting examples that based on the data within the client situation by using google search.