erage note. This information can then be rapidly and accurately transmitted, and produces a much clearer nd more meaningful profile of the patient for all disciplines concerned with the total care of the patient. Furthermore, because of the nature of the forms used, the procedure permits ready statistical analysis of the content of the report. In 1902, Clara Weeks-Shaw wrote prophetically, "The nurse who is with her patient constantly, has, if she knows how to make use of it, a much better opportunity of becoming acquainted with his real condition than the physician, who only spends half an hour with him occasionally" (1). The physician's knowledge of the course of the patient's illness and his management of treatment were, she added, "largely guided by the observations of the attentive nurse." Today, too, the physician looks to reports made by nursing personnel for much of his information about the day-to-day changes in patient behavior.