If a patient is swearing at me, I'll chart it in quotes. Charting exactly what the patient says can protect you in the result of a law suit. Example: I once had a patient in the ER who was very intoxicated & needed to be restrained. He was continuously screaming out swear words, yelling racist remarks, making crude remarks about female body parts, etc. Now this pt was around 22-23 years old, and he kept yelling about how his daddy was a lawyer, he was going to sue, we'd be sorry, blah, blah, blah. Well, I can guarantee that if daddy ever decided to try to sue us & got a look at the medical record, he would be absolutely embarrassed by the things coming out of his precious son's mouth. If I hadn't charted exactly what the pt said, it would never be in the chart, and daddy might have been more likely to try to sue, but as it stood, I never heard another word about the case....
Charting vulgar language in quotes shows that the patient is beligerent, irrational, and verbally combative. It can demonstrate a patient's frame of mind at the time, and along with descriptions of physical behavior can provide rationale for certain interventions, such as medications (Ativan! Haldol!) or restraints. I am a traveler, and have worked at MANY ER's all over the country, and have never gotten in trouble for charting vulgar language in a chart. It might not "look pretty" in the chart, but then this isn't always a nice, pretty world we work in.....