This session reinforced the importance of effective note-taking and documentation. Key reasons highlighted included ensuring continuity of services, maintaining accountability, supporting quality assurance, meeting legal requirements, and assisting with resource allocation.
It also outlined essential professional and guiding principles for documentation. These include recording a custodian ID, ensuring notes are clear, time-stamped, legible, written in permanent ink (blue or black), and use appropriate terminology. Documentation should be current, accurate, chronological, relevant, and complete.
Additional best practices discussed included maintaining objectivity rather than subjectivity, properly correcting documentation errors, and appropriately managing blank spaces to prevent misuse.
The session also introduced the MAPP (Motive, Assessment, Progress, and Plan) model as a structured approach for Career Services Professionals to document student and graduate interactions. This is similar to the SOAP notes used in pharmacy.
Finally, when standard employment verification methods are unsuccessful, an alternative approach is to request that employers complete and sign a Job Description form, along with guidance on how to effectively implement this process.
