Time management tips

[studentnurse1]

Hello everyone!

I am a nursing student begining to start my last semester. I still have problems with time management in clinical, and was wondering if anyone had some advice? Thank you in advance.
Angela

[nursekate]

Angela,

Time management is something you will learn over time. It took me about a year of hospital nursing before I felt like I wasn't running to get things done. Stop, take a breathe, as a previous charge nurse I would rather you slow down and think, perform the duty at hand, and if you get behind or feel rushed ask for help. Regardless of what you may have heard most nurses are willing and able to help out a new grad!

NurseKate

[SoldierNurse]

Studentnurse1, NurseKate had some excellent suggestions, which if I may add boils down to prioritze, delegate, and ask for help from your peers.

Hang in there!

[nchappynurse]

Here is a link that might help with time management (tips and sample schedule).

[kimmiejs]

One thing that I do at the beginning of my shift is quickly stop I to see my patients and introduce myself. In less than a minute you can learn a lot about a patient through the power of observation. For example...A patient in respiratory distress will not be sitting up eating breakfast or talking on the phone.

Instead of using a blood pressure monitor to check your patients vital signs take it the old fashioned way. In the end you will have saved time. By the time you have brought in a blood pressure monitor you could have checked it manually, checked an apical pulse, heart sounds, and breath sounds as well. What you have left out can be done when you are giving medications or changing dressings.

I hope this helps.

[orionseal]

One thing I do is to find something to compliment each and every assistant I have on a shift for, either another nurse or CNA. this does several things for you 1)it lets them know you see how hard they are working 2)motivates them to want to do better (they will subconsciously seek more praise) 3)they will enjoy working with you 4)they will take more pride in the work they do, and so, do a better job 5)they will be glad to help you to make your job easier they may even get to the point that they can anticipate your needs making your job even easier 6)ECT.......

The same goes for having to talk with them about somthing they should not have done. If you have to talk with them about somthing and they are used to being treated fairly by you, these talks will not only be infrequent, but those that do occure will probably have a more possitive effect/outcome coming from a trusted supervisor thus leading to fiewer talkings-to and a more possitive working environment for all.

Get the drift, this has been working for me for years. It came to a point that they gave ME all the screwups on my shift to see what would happen and after about a week we were running like a well oiled machine. As you may find out if you try this, a little praise goes a looooooonnng way.

AND it only takes a moments worth of your time (as you divi out snacks for your diabetics ect...)

[Jerry Kipler]

I too have had problems with time management and such. Not as a nurse or anythign, but maybe it what I have found might be beneficial for you as well. What I've got is a virtual administrative assistant, it keeps my schedule looking clan and professional and lets me know when and where I need to be so that I can arrive in a timely manner.