What Is Pertinent Negative

Pertinent Negatives (PN) are used when the clinician documents why they DID NOT perform a procedure. Example: If Aspirin is part of the agency protocol for Chest Pain but was not administered, the reason should be documented.

What are examples of pertinent negatives?

Pertinent negatives point away from associated complications (“He denied shortness of breath”) and rule out other diagnoses (“He denied headache, neck stiffness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dysuria, and rash”).

What is pertinent negative in the workplace?

The pertinent negative is seeing what is there as well as what is missing to give a more complete picture. Herman, A (2016) describes it as, “Saying what isn’t there in addition to what is there to actually give a more accurate picture of what you are looking at.” The concept is a borrowed from medicine.