DD Form 2551 occupies a particular place in Defense recordkeeping. Its title is DD Form 2551, Workload Management System for Nursing - General Worksheet, February 1992, and it exists to Workload Management System for Nursing - General Worksheet. What the DD prefix records is an administrative judgment made long before your copy was printed: this transaction was determined to be common to the whole Department rather than peculiar to one service, and so the documentation of it was standardized at Department level.
This is why the arrangement matters to you rather than only to the archivists. not stated governs the form throughout the Department, with not stated as the responsible office, so the record you create is legible outside your own component. Joint assignments, agency details and cross-service transactions all depend on that: the paperwork does not have to be reconstructed each time it crosses a boundary.
Current edition: not stated, status not stated. Understand why that date is worth attention here. When the Department reissues a form, the replacement takes effect across every component simultaneously, so an older copy is not merely locally out of date — it is out of date in every office that might receive it.
The sequence printed on the form is the sequence in which a reviewer will read it, and the two should agree. Header data frames every entry below it; the substantive fields depend on that frame; the certification stands at the end because its whole function is to vouch for what came before. Entries made out of sequence commonly contradict entries made earlier.
Verify the printed edition against not stated first. Field structure shifts between editions, and the office that receives your record is reading the current one. That office may sit outside your service, which removes even the informal accommodation you might expect from a colleague who used the old version last month.
Unclear entries are resolved from the printed instructions first and from not stated where the two texts diverge.
Download the form
Formats available: PDF, across 2 pages and about 200 fields.
All of it downloads without charge. Where care is needed is in the reader you choose. A fillable pdf depends on field properties that desktop applications honour and browser previews frequently ignore, so work locally rather than inside a browser window.
What the form asks for
- Addressograph.
- Acuity code 2. Vital signs q4h or x 6. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 3. Vital signs q3h or x 8. Point value (3).
- Acuity code 4. Vital signs q3h or x 12. Point value (4).
- Acuity code 5. Vital signs q1h or x 24. Point value (8).
- Acuity code 6. Rectal or axillary temp or apical pulse qid or more. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 7. Femoral, pedal or popliteal pulses or FHT qid or more. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 8. Tilt test q4h or more. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 9. Post-op, post-partum, post delivery (newborn VS). Point value (6).
- 2. Monitoring. Acuity code 10. Intake and output q8h. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 11. Intake and output q2h. Point value (8).
- Acuity code 12. Circulation or fundus checks 12h or x12. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 13. Neuro checks q4h or x 6. Point value (3).
- Acuity code 14. Neuro checks q2h or x 12. Point value (6).
- Acuity code 15. CVP or ICP (manual) q2h or x 12. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 16. Cardiac/apnea/temp/BP monitor (not cumulative). Point value (6).
- Acuity code 17. Transcutaneous monitor/oximeter. Point value (6).
- Acuity code 18. A-line or ICP monitor or Swan Ganz set-up. Point value (4).
- Acuity code 19. A-line or ICP monitor rreading q2h or x 12. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 20. Swan Ganz PAP/PA wedge reading q4h or x 6. Point value (2).
- Acuity code 21. Swan Ganz PAP/PA wedge reading q2h or x 12. Point value (4).
- Acuity code 22. Cardiac output tid or x 3. Point value (2).
- 3. Activities of daily living. Acuity code 23. Care - age 5 or less (infant/toddler). Point value (6).
- Acuity code 24. Care - age 6 or more (self/minimal). Point value (2).
Route the executed form as not stated or local guidance directs, and retain a duplicate first. Cross-component routing is ordinary for DD forms, which is precisely why a personal copy earns its keep: the receiving office may belong to an organization you have no standing to query about a missing document.
Cross-referenced documents are found by series and number, with nothing further required. That the DD sequence is unified across the Department means a cited number identifies one form and no other, which is the practical payoff of centralizing the numbering in the first place.
Procedures that touch both Department and service processes will cite forms from both sequences, and the coincidence of numbers between them is exactly that — coincidence. An Army proponent maintains the DA series for the Army; not stated or another Department office maintains the DD series for the whole Department. Two independent registries, two independent numbering runs, no correspondence at any value.
Understanding why editions change explains why checking them is not optional. Revision follows directive reissue, changes in what data is required, and amendments to mandatory notice text — decisions made at Department level and communicated through publication rather than notification. The file you saved does not update itself, so the edition date at download is what you rely on.
What you have here is the document and a description of it, which is a different thing from guidance. This page is not an organ of the Department, gives no legal or procedural advice, and makes no representation about the outcome of any filing; the offices that administer the requirement are the only ones positioned to answer that. Applicability, eligibility and procedural questions belong to not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2551?
- DD Form 2551, Workload Management System for Nursing - General Worksheet, February 1992
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?