DAR Nursing Notes (Data, Action, Response)
DAR is a focus-charting format that organizes an entry around a specific concern using three parts: Data, Action and Response.
Educational use & privacy
Educational documentation practice only. Use fictional or instructor-provided information. Do not enter real patient information or protected health information (PHI). Documentation requirements vary by organization, setting, role, policy, and applicable law.
Nursing Notes Privacy & SafetyContent status: Draft — not yet professionally reviewed.
Why it is structured this way
DAR mirrors the nursing process in a compact form: what you found, what you did about it, and whether it worked. Separating Response from Action pushes the writer to reassess and record the outcome instead of stopping after the intervention.
When this may be used
- Entries about a specific concern or event (the "focus"), such as pain, nausea or a teaching session.
- Organizations that use focus charting. Some label it DAR, some use DARP (adding Plan) or other variations.
- Not every facility uses DAR; follow your organization's format.
Components
Focus
Names the concern the entry addresses.
What belongs here
- A patient concern, event or topic (for example, "Pain" or "Education: incentive spirometer")
What does not belong
- A medical diagnosis you are not qualified to make
Data
Supports the focus with evidence.
What belongs here
- Subjective statements
- Objective findings you obtained
What does not belong
- Actions taken
- Assumptions
Action
Records the care provided.
What belongs here
- Nursing actions actually performed
- Notifications made
What does not belong
- Planned care written as done
- Findings (those go in Data)
Response
Records the outcome.
What belongs here
- Patient response
- Reassessment findings with time
What does not belong
- Assumed improvement
- Findings not reassessed
Short fictional example
- Focus
- Pain
- Data
- Patient rates incisional pain 6/10 and states "it's aching."
- Action
- Repositioned to left side with pillow support.
- Response
- 30 minutes later patient rates pain 4/10.
More detailed fictional example
- Focus
- Education: incentive spirometer
- Data
- Patient states "I don't know how to use this thing." Incentive spirometer at bedside, unused per patient.
- Action
- Demonstrated use of incentive spirometer. Explained goal of 10 breaths per hour while awake. Patient performed return demonstration.
- Response
- Patient performed return demonstration correctly, reaching 1,000 mL on the device. Patient asked "Do I do this at night too?" Question answered; patient restated "every hour while I'm awake."
Annotated example
Notes on the detailed example above:
Focus: Education: incentive spirometer
— The focus tells a reader what the entry is about before they read it.Patient states "I don't know how to use this thing."
— Data includes the patient's words, which justify the teaching.Patient performed return demonstration
— Action lists what was actually done.reaching 1,000 mL on the device
— Response is specific and measurable instead of "understood teaching."
Common mistakes
- Putting actions in the Data section.
- Writing a Response such as "tolerated well" with no reassessment.
- Using a medical diagnosis as the focus instead of a nursing concern.
- Leaving out the time of reassessment.
Good vs poor documentation
Weaker (fictional)
R: Pain better.
Stronger (fictional)
R: At 1030, patient rates pain 4/10, down from 6/10 at 1000.
Why: The stronger Response includes time and a measurable comparison.
Blank educational template
DAR note: Focus charting: Data, Action, Response. Prompts only; nothing is prefilled.
- Focus
- [The concern, event or topic this entry is about]
- Data
- [Relevant subjective and objective findings]
- Action
- [Nursing actions actually performed]
- Response
- [Patient response / reassessment]
Practice this format
- Practice Note Builder — write a practice note from a fictional scenario.
- Documentation practice questions
Related documentation guides
Sources
- ANA's Principles for Nursing Documentation (2010) — American Nurses Association.
- Nursing Fundamentals 2e — 2.5 Documentation — Open RN (Chippewa Valley Technical College).
- Fundamentals of Nursing — 14.5 Guidelines for Effective Documentation — OpenStax.
All examples on this page are original and fictional. Sources are used to check principles; they do not endorse Dosage Calcs. See Privacy & Safety.