Nursing Brain Sheet FAQ
Answers to what nurses ask most, plus short video walkthroughs of NurseBrain® Synapse.
It is the digital version of the brain sheet you already keep in your pocket. You start a shift, get your patients onto your sheet, work your tasks, write your notes, and hand off at the end. It runs on your phone and in a browser, so it is with you wherever the shift takes you.
Yes. Patient information is encrypted in transit and at rest, and every server and vendor it passes through is covered by a business associate agreement. Your sheet is yours: nobody else sees it unless you hand it off.
No. NurseBrain® Synapse works alongside your EHR, never as a replacement for it. It is your personal workspace for keeping the shift organized, and you copy what you need into your facility's documentation system when you are ready.
Five ways, so you can pick whichever matches how you took report: say it out loud, scan a QR code from another nurse's handoff, point your camera at a paper sheet, type it in yourself, or start from a template. There is a short video for each one in the tutorials below.
Watch "Start your shift" in the tutorials on this page. It is under a minute and it covers the first thing you do when you open the app. After that, watch whichever one matches what you are trying to do next.
Yes. You can print a brain sheet from NurseBrain® Synapse if you like paper, and plenty of nurses run both for a while. The blank templates on this site are free to download whether or not you use the app.
They are the same thing. Brain sheet, report sheet, nurse report sheet, patient worksheet: it is the paper nurses use to keep track of patients through a shift. Some units call it one thing, some the other, and NurseBrain® Synapse works with either name.
Yes. NurseBrain® Synapse runs in a browser at app.nursebrain.com as well as on your phone, so you can work at a workstation and pick the same shift back up on your phone.
It is there through the whole shift, not just at the start, so you can ask a question from wherever you already are instead of stopping what you are doing. Use your own judgment and your facility's resources for anything clinical.
NurseBrain® Synapse is a subscription: $29.99 a month, or $149.99 a year which works out to about $12 a month. That covers the in-app assistant, voice entry, premium brain sheet templates and the rest of the app. The blank templates on this site stay free.
Yes. Nursing students get 40% off with a verified .edu email address.
Check the tutorials on this page first, since most questions are answered in under a minute. If that does not do it, email support@nursingbrain.app and tell us what you were trying to do.
Video tutorials
Short walkthroughs of NurseBrain® Synapse, most of them under a minute. Watch the one you need and get back to your shift.
Open Synapse and start your shift. This is the first minute, before anyone is on your sheet.
Start here
One clip, so your first shift with Synapse is not the shift you spend learning it.
Get your patients in
Five ways to get a patient onto your sheet, then a look at the whole assignment. Pick whichever one matches how you took report.
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1:00 Chapter 2a Add a patient by dictation Say the report out loud and the patient is on your sheet. Good when you are taking report on the move. -
0:41 Chapter 2b Import a handoff by QR code Scan the QR code on the handoff you were given and the patient is on your sheet. Nothing to retype. -
0:42 Chapter 2c Scan a paper handoff Point your camera at the paper sheet you were handed and the patient shows up on your sheet. Keep the paper too if you want it. -
0:37 Chapter 2d Type a patient handoff Type the patient in yourself, field by field. Use this one when you would rather do it by hand. -
0:38 Chapter 2e Use a brain sheet template Start from a template instead of a blank page. Pick the one that matches the kind of patients you take. -
0:40 Chapter 2f Check summaries and view your assignment See every patient you are carrying on one screen. Open any of them to go deeper.
Through the shift
What you use between report and the end of the shift.
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0:44 Chapter 3 Find patient information Go straight to one detail on a patient instead of scrolling the whole sheet. Type what you are looking for. -
0:34 Chapter 4 Review a patient care plan Open a care plan on a patient and read through it. Handy when you are picking up someone you have not had before. -
0:43 Chapter 5 Keep track of tasks Work your task list through the shift and check things off as they get done. Nothing to hold in your head or write on your hand. -
0:58 Chapter 6 Set up and assign a routine Set up a routine for the things you do on a schedule and assign it to a patient. -
1:00 Chapter 7 Update patient information Change what is on a patient as the picture changes: new drip, new line, new plan. Your sheet keeps up with the shift instead of going stale. -
0:41 Chapter 8 Review and copy a Synapse note Open a Synapse note on your patient, read it through, and copy it when you are ready. Check it against your own assessment first. -
0:40 Chapter 9 Write and format your own note Write the note yourself and format it the way you want it to read. Headings, bullets and bold all stay where you put them. -
0:42 Chapter 10 Support for your whole shift The in-app assistant is there for the whole shift, not only at the start. Ask from where you already are and keep moving.
Finish the shift
Closing out at the end, and picking the same patient back up next time you have them.
Make it yours
Settings and layout, so the app matches how you work.
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0:39 Chapter 13 Change text size and theme Make the text bigger and pick the theme that is easiest on your eyes at 3 a.m. Two taps in settings and it stays that way. -
0:46 Chapter 14 Build a brain sheet that fits your shift Choose the fields you use and drop the ones you never fill in. Your sheet ends up looking like the one you would have drawn yourself.