The purpose of this study was to elicit legal definitions and nurse definit
ions of a late entry. An exploratory study using a 34-item survey was condu
cted. Participants who attended an advanced fetal monitoring course conduct
ed by the primary author were asked to complete the survey. Two hundred fif
ty-seven participants completed the survey. The sample included a physician
, 13 certified nurse midwives, five nurse practitioners, and a licensed pra
ctical nurse. Two hundred and fifty-three participants were registered nurs
es. The median full-time nursing experience was 14.5 years. Nurses with an
average of 14.3 years of experience used descriptive words, such as "out of
sequence," to define an entry as late. Nurses with an average of 17.4 year
s of experience used minutes or hours to define when an entry was late. The
average time for an entry to be considered late was 41.53 minutes after an
event or action. Nurses who documented using a computer were significantly
more likely to use a time Game to define an entry as late. There was no co
nsensus on the definition of a late entry either by nurses or the courts. T
he majority of nurses define a late entry using qualitative descriptors. A
well-accepted definition is needed to define when an entry is timely and va
lid and when it becomes so late that it lacks credibility.