Time Mangement? How Do You Do It?

[SexyFloridaGirl]

I recently had my first productive night shift and it went horribly wrong for me. I was slow, disorganized, and most of all tardy with vitals and forgetting to tell nurses important pieces of information. My report was 15 minutes past the time I was supposed to be clocked out for my shift, I was a nervous wreck, and my patients didn't even have fresh ice water. I left my job feeling like a COMPLETE failure, thinking to myself "Is this what I have studied so hard in college for? Is this where I want to be once I finish nursing school? Can I handle the pressure? Am I competent?" Normally, you can give me an exam, I will study for a day or two and can come out with an A. This, is so new and foreign to me, that I feel like I am the last man on some sinking ship in the middle of the ocean. How do you deal with the patients who come from internal medicine that want to stop your necessary vitals for 20 minutes at a time while they sit on the toilet 5 times in one night? How do you stop that patient who needs to shower and can't be left alone to do it herself? How do you deal with a total care patient and still make rounds without changing them every 2 hours? And how do you get on a level where you can comfortably communicate with a nurse when you need help? I work on a BMT floor, so every morning we are doing weights and girths and report them to nurses, we also go to the lab to get blood, platelets, and a number of other things that nurses need during transfusions (including vitals every 15 minutes with or without a nurse present in the room). We stock nursing carts during the middle of the night and also leave fresh ice for any patients who want it. I know this may seem like a "regular" night to some nurses/techs but for me it has been a nightmare to adjust to. I go in thinking "I want to do my best for my patients and be their best tech they have seen all day" to being completely defeated by 7am. How can I just get better? I am desperate to find some answer to this.

[S.RN]

I totally empathize with you, I recently started working as a PCT and although I'll be a Senior this Fall, I felt incompetent. One thing we don't learn very well in nursing school is balancing a patient load. What really through me off was not knowing any and everything about why the patient was in the hospital, during clinicals we had to know any and everything and be ready to talk about critical values but as a tech, it's like we know the bare minimum and really don't have time to look through the pt's chart because as soon as we get there vitals and rounds are due. I questioned my ability to be a competent nurse the first day I was on the floor, I'm glad I am taking the time this Summer to work as a tech, it is helping me learn time management. Hang in there, you will find your flow. I'm not 100% confident yet but I'm determined and willing to learn. It's all in your attitude :) we can support one another!!!!

[funtimes]

I wouldnt panic. The Nurses you work with obviously know you are new and know it'll take time for you to get a hang of the job. They were new once as well. Wait til you're experienced and you see a brand new RN working their first shift alone, then you'll be glad you went through this experience as a tech instead of as an RN.

Dont be afraid of the RNs, if you have a question, then ask, if you need help, then ask. They are busy and often stressed themselves, but they are usually kinder and more forgiving of mistakes if they are coming from a CNA or tech than if its another RN, as long as you are hard working.

Just be thankful you arent working in LTC, where the CNAs tend to blame new hires for everything. Even worse is EMS, where the treatment of new EMTs can sometimes approach hazing. Having done both of those jobs( I still work as an EMT) I found a hospital environment to be downright relaxing by comparison.

[DIVINELY FAVORED]

As time goes on you will get better. I feel the same way whenever I start a new job, you have to get comfortable with the new responsibilities. I will be a senior nursing student in the fall and have been a PCT for a while. I feel nursing school does not prepare you for the ''real world''. Keep moving forward and learn from whatever mistakes you make. Everyone has been there, even though some people act like they were never the new person.

[slilly]

Everybody has days where they do not feel productive at all, like I had one day where a girl who was supposed to be working called in and so I had 14 patients all to myself, and had to report every change to both of my nurses who were there that day. Luckily my nurses called the administrative people and told them the situation, and all of the care I was supposed to be doing was going to be on a PRN basis until we got coverage, all the families agreed to it. Somehow until 1p I managed to have help with turning all my patients and changing them, my nurses helped feed the patients we had to feed at meals, which was nice. I felt really bad giving over my report to the other girl coming in to help out cause she was like what care have you done already and I said well none and its been documented that way because I was told not to since we are under-staffed this morning. Thankfully that girl can bust some care out and she got it done, but I felt really over-whelmed that whole first 6 hrs.

[Missingyou, CNA]

Give it time. You will get a routine down. You will learn the in's and outs. It may take a while, but you'll get there.

Go easy on yourself!