Do police officers and nurses have to know how to write?

We often think that high-level executives or professional writers are the only people who have to write at work, right? Mistaken. Ask any nurse or police officer if they have to write when the job calls for it and you’ll get a resounding YES. At work, nurses have to write letters to bereaved family members, notes to doctors, and reports that might be required if a nurse or hospital has to defend an action in court. Sometimes nurses have to write down the unusual and the unexpected.

A nurse told me: “Once a family member hit me and I had to describe it in a report.” Many universities have specific instructions for nurses and the need to write. The Purdue Online Writing Lab website, for example, has an entire section dedicated to courses and syllabi for nursing students.:

“The field of nursing requires a great deal of fast, accurate writing. You’ll need to fill out reports and charts correctly and completely, and record your interactions with doctors and patients fairly. Plus, you should always be prepared to defend your information. record. Be objective, be accurate, and remember your critical audience.”

Before a nurse can enter the nursing corps, she must complete a training course, and many schools require applicants to write an essay about why they should be admitted. That’s not an easy thing to do unless you know what essay writing is all about. This is what a survey of legitimate websites had to say about the entrance essay:

“After completing all the academic studies required for a nursing degree, nursing school candidates are required to write a nursing school admissions essay. This essay, though brief, may be one of the most important essays you will ever will be written by an aspiring nurse.Along with various standardized tests, the essay helps to determine whether a nursing school candidate makes it into nursing school or not.Writing a nursing school entrance essay is not difficult if you plan carefully and know what to include and how to make it stand out from the rest of the candidates An error in a short essay will make you appear sloppy, which is undesirable in a nurse Attention to detail is key in the final presentation “.

There’s more than guns and guts

Police officers also have to write, including daily reports that they often have to write while sitting in patrol cars, typing on a laptop. However, there are times when officers are required to write a full report without the help of helper software. Chris Livingston, a retired police officer and district manager for a major metropolitan police force in Georgia, sees evidence that students entering law enforcement must also learn how to write reports the old-fashioned way, making sure they are accurate. and complete. This is what he had to say:

“Many new officers today look to automated report writing programs, but when they have to write a report, many of the fundamentals of good writing are missing, I mean everything from punctuation to tenses to point of view, everyone.” grammatical elements simple and consistent writing I had to send back perhaps thirty percent of those reports because they were so poorly written Remember, not only does a report have to be correct, but the content and presentation have to be in the money. Those reports get scrutinized by attorneys who work in capital crimes, and they look very closely for written evidence that can be used in court. If a report is poorly done, the arresting officer can get into a lot of trouble.”

For decades, law enforcement trainees have watched cops and robbers TV shows that show cops chasing, fighting, handcuffing, and interrogating suspects, plus some shootings. In other words, the Hollywood version of police work. Yet those same shows don’t show cops and detectives sitting down after every incident to write reports. It’s not as exciting as the chase, but in real life reports are a vital follow-up to any police action. Men and women who have their eyes on state or federal law enforcement agencies can expect the same requirement. The FBI, for example, has its own crime reporting manual, devoted entirely to who, what, when, where, why, and how to write reports.

Nurse… Police officer. Either way, the person who knows how to write clear, coherent, and correct reports will be in a prime position to not only pass any entry requirement that requires good writing skills, but will also be able to display those same skills on the job itself. , where, as we know, good writing pays off.