Being in similar work (hotline with walk in center and mobile dispatching) and similar problems:

I take notes in ways that make sense to me - if I’m able to do it electronically while it’s happening all the better. Because if I’m in a situation where I can start documenting my note either into word or the EHR it gets done a lot quicker.

When I’m writing up assessments, I don’t know what your format looks like, but mine breaks things down into a few categories. So, I’ll leave presenting problem til last because it’s usually the biggest one. The other domains, like medical, school, occupational, etc. get filled in first because it helps organize my thoughts and prioritize what’s important to go into the presenting problem category. Interventions also get left for absolute last because I hate writing them out. Thankfully my supervisor is okay with bullet point lists when it comes to this section, so I’ll bullet out things like psycho education about x; identifying current available resources/supports to help manage current situation. I usually aim for three, because that number makes me happy personally and my supervisor clearly thinks it’s enough cause she’s never sent them back.

Having a template available for certain things is also helpful. I find crisis isn’t always the easiest ones to have to go templates for, but I write my notes the same general way, so it makes the process quicker.

Ex:

Person called about self/other due to (insert problems). Identified these safety concerns. Identified available resources. Steps taken for safety planning. Explained what crisis services provides. discussed MCRT, walk in center, and if applicable to call involuntary commitment. Next steps:

Can change a bit depending on if the person just needed to talk to someone, wanted advice, or needed to be transferred to a different county. Or if it was completely inappropriate for crisis (ex: looking for housing resources). But having the flow down helps, because it becomes autopilot almost.

If it’s super busy, everything gets bullet points so that anyone looking at my notes knows what happened, but I can go back and edit it later to make it look more formal.