The unified patient chart is a standard way of keeping records in hospitals and clinics. Instead of the previous practice of each treating physician keeping their own notes on patient treatment, a single record is kept for each patient throughout their stay to which all treating physicians and nursing staff have access.
The chart was first developed at the Mayo Clinic and soon came into standard use at hospitals throughout the world.
House is notorious for not keeping proper charts. There are two reasons for this. In most cases, House is just too harried to properly complete a chart, as it usually takes him less time to examine a patient and come up with a diagnosis than it does to write down the patient's condition and diagnosis on the chart. However, House is also sensitive to patient confidentiality and often does not put sensitive information in a patient's chart. However, House's practice of not keeping a proper chart has gotten him into trouble on numerous occasions.
Famous charting incidents[]
In Skin Deep, House fails to write down his diagnosis of sympathetic pregnancy on George's chart. When he is seen by Lisa Cuddy, the patient won't tell her what Dr. House said and he has to show her his enlarged breasts.
In Mob Rules, House deliberately doesn't chart the fact he's treating Joey Arnello for hepatitis B as it would show he was either a drug user or gay. However, there is a medicine interaction and House eventually has to admit to a confused Cuddy that he failed to chart the hepatitis treatment.
In Damned If You Do, House pretends he has diagnosed Marvin's irritable bowel syndrome by sniffing the air, but he really found out from the chart.
In Babies & Bathwater, House reviews Olive Kaplan's chart and finds she is severely underweight.