Nurse practitioners provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about various health conditions, and provide counseling and emotional support to patients and their families (Purdue) all within a period of eight hours excluding paper work. Nurses spend much of their time completing paperwork and writing care plans. A nurse is not a nurse unless she knows how to write in several forms. To be a successful nurse you must first be a good writer. In the process of becoming a nurse you learn to abbreviate many medical terms (Lane). The only type of information that can be written in complete sentences are patient medical reports. Writing is used to complete care plans, charts, reports, articles, patient discharge notes, case studies, and other aspects (Lane). Writing enables nurses to provide appropriate and safe care to their patients (Lane). As a nurse you need to know how to write legibly so that other nurses can understand your writing to follow care plans. If a nurse cannot understand the writing, she may administer the wrong medications to patients, which could cause several medical problems. A simple mistake like this can result in the loss of a nurse's license and serious federal charges (Purdue). Many times information written in medical records can become legal documents following the death of patients (Purdue). Therefore the information must always be accurate and correct. Many nurses follow the motto "If it ain't tracked, then it ain't done." When nurses began their careers, there wasn't as much writing. The work done by the nurses was private care work. Therefore they were the ones to decide how to handle matters. After work... half of the sheet... l. I know this job involves a lot of paperwork, writing memos, preparing schedules, and much more. Some of the primary duties of a nursing director are completing admission and discharge forums, writing care plans, and other medical documents. Being the admin is writing intensive. They need to make sure their nurses are following state guidelines. They hold daily meetings with nurses and prepare memos for staff. We future nursing students ask ourselves: why do we need to take writing courses if we go to school to become nurses? How will this affect us? By completing this project I learned that it is a significant part of our nursing career. It is the solid foundation for a nursing career. An individual who cannot write is not qualified to be a nurse. To be a successful nurse you must first prove your self-worth with pencil and paper.