Focus charting (transmissions ciblées)

What are transmissions ciblées in healthcare?

Transmissions ciblées (targeted nursing notes) are a written handover method used in nursing care: information is organized around a “focus” (a problem or event concerning the patient), then structured by Data, Actions, Results reasoning (the CDAR method).

Spread through French care units and nursing homes (EHPAD) from the 1980s onward, they aim for clear, targeted, continuous information in the care record, as opposed to long, hard-to-use narrative notes.