Charting at home as a NP: 3 reasons why and how to fix them

As a nurse practitioner (NP), you entered the profession to make a difference in patients’ lives, not to drown in endless documentation. Yet, for so many NPs, charting has crept into personal time—leaving you stuck in front of a laptop late at night or over the weekend when you should be enjoying family, friends, or much-needed downtime.

If you’ve ever felt the weight of burnout from spending your evenings catching up on charts, know you’re not alone—and it doesn’t have to be this way. In this post, we’ll explore three of the most common reasons nurse practitioners are still charting at home and, most importantly, how to address these challenges. By taking steps to regain control over your time, you can reclaim your work-life balance and prevent the cycle of burnout.

Reason #1: You Don’t Have a Plan

The Challenge:
One of the biggest reasons nurse practitioners end up charting at home is a lack of strategy. Without a plan for how and when to complete your documentation, it’s easy to get stuck in a reactive mode—scrambling to finish charts in between patients or postponing them until later (a.k.a., after work hours).

The Fix:
To stay on top of your documentation, you need a clear plan for how you’ll tackle it throughout the day:

Schedule Time for Charting: Block off specific times during your workday to catch up on documentation. For example, set aside 10 minutes after each patient visit to complete your notes. You can also build in dedicated charting blocks mid-morning, during lunch, or before you leave the office.
Use Charting Templates and Shortcuts: EHRs have built-in tools like dot phrases, templates, and macros that allow you to quickly and efficiently document common scenarios. Spend a little time customizing these tools to fit your workflow—it will save you hours in the long run.
Set Small, Achievable Goals: Instead of feeling like you need to finish all your charts at once, break it into manageable chunks. Aim to complete certain portions of each chart during the visit and leave the rest for your scheduled charting time.
Join STOP Charting at Home in 90 Days: This program gives you the EXACT charting and time management tips to implement so you can STOP charting at home in the next 90 days. The plan is already laid out, all you have to do is implement! Click to join the program.

Planning your charting ensures that it doesn’t bleed into your personal life, helping you protect your work-life balance.

Reason #2: You’re Too Overwhelmed

The Challenge:
Your to-do list is a mile long, and charting often feels like just one more thing to add to an already overwhelming day. Beyond patient care, nurse practitioners are juggling endless inbox messages, medication refills, reviewing test results, and completing administrative tasks. It’s no wonder you’re struggling to keep up and end up charting at home.

The Fix:

Overcoming overwhelm starts with simplifying and organizing your workload:

Batch Your Work: Group similar tasks together to complete them more efficiently. For example, handle all patient messages or medication refills in one focused block of time rather than interrupting yourself multiple times throughout the day.
Prioritize What Matters: Use a daily planner or task management system to focus on the most critical tasks first. For example, prioritize completing your notes before tackling non-urgent messages.
Delegate When Possible: If you have support staff, delegate tasks like gathering patient histories, sending follow-up instructions, or calling pharmacies for refills. Delegation frees up your time to focus on the work only you can do.
Set Boundaries with Inbox Management: Limit how often you check your email or patient portal messages. For example, only check twice per day—once in the morning and once in the afternoon—to avoid constant interruptions.

Feeling overwhelmed often stems from a lack of structure. By organizing your workload and reducing distractions, you can create the mental space to focus on charting during your work hours.

The STOP Charting at Home in 90 Days program was created to eliminate the overwhelm. As The Nurse Practitioner Charting Coach, I teach the EXACT charting and time management tips you need to STOP charting at home in the next 90 days.

The video lessons are weekly, 15-30 minutes in length, so you don’t have to feel overwhelmed. Just focus on one charting tip at a time! This program helps to eliminate the overwhelm and allows nurse practitioners to actually STOP charting at home.

Reason #3: You’re Over Charting

The Challenge:
Many nurse practitioners over-chart because they feel like they need to document every little detail to avoid liability, meet employer expectations, or provide “perfect” notes. However, this leads to overly detailed and time-consuming documentation that eats into your day.

The Fix:
Focus on creating concise, high-quality notes instead of overly detailed ones. Here’s how:

Join the 5 Minute Chart Notes Course: This program was designed to teach nurse practitioners how to avoid the note bloat and create problem-focused chart notes in less than 5 minutes! Click here to learn more about the course!
Chart What’s Required—Not Everything: Your notes should reflect the medically necessary details to support billing, document patient care, and ensure continuity. Avoid documenting unnecessary information that doesn’t serve these purposes.
Adopt Real-Time Charting: Start charting during the visit whenever possible. Use the patient’s words to document the history of present illness (HPI) in real time, or summarize your assessment and plan while still in the room.
Learn EHR Efficiency Techniques: Many NPs don’t receive adequate training on how to use their EHR effectively. Invest in learning time-saving tips and tricks specific to your platform, such as using pre-set templates, auto-populating fields, and keyboard shortcuts.

Over-charting doesn’t just waste your time—it’s unnecessary. By learning to document efficiently, you can complete thorough notes without overloading yourself.

Check out 5 Minute Chart Notes course to learn how to actually avoid the note bloat and create problem-focused chart notes in less than 5 minutes!

The Cost of Charting at Home

Charting at home doesn’t just take time away from your personal life—it also puts you on the fast track to nurse practitioner burnout. APRNs who consistently take work home experience higher levels of stress, reduced job satisfaction, and, over time, risk leaving the profession altogether.

Nurse practitioner burnout doesn’t just impact your career; it affects your health, relationships, and overall well-being. By addressing the reasons behind after-hours charting, you can create a healthier, more sustainable approach to your work.

Need More Help?

Charting at home isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a sign that your workflow needs a reset. By creating a plan, tackling overwhelm, and avoiding over-charting, you can free yourself from late-night documentation and reclaim your work-life balance.

If you are a nurse practitioner who needs more help get into the STOP Charting at Home in 90 Days Program.

This program gives nurse practitioners the EXACT plan (while eliminating the overwhelm) to STOP charting at home in the next 90 days.

So if you are a nurse practitioner who is ready to:

Regain your evenings and weekends to spend time with family.
Go on a weekend trip without taking your laptop along
Learn to rediscover the passion and fulfillment in your NP job

get into the STOP Charting at Home in 90 Days Program!