Are u extremely organized and meticulous?

[susanna]

I need help on something. If you don't feel like reading this entire post, the ultimate question I want to ask is this: Are the best of nurses/doctors extremely organized and meticulous and have excellent time-management skills both at work AND in their in private lives?

The reason I ask is because my private life has been anything but organized or meticulous, nor do I have good time-management skills. I'm messy and disorganized at home. I can't seem to develop good eating habits. I get depressed and antisocial very easily, forgetting that I need human interaction to keep sane and current with the world. Truthfully, I have been very anti-social and withdrawn most of my life(this doesn't mean I'm rude to people, just that I stay in my own little corner and don't go out much). I forget friends' birthdays easily and other things that mean a lot to other people. Plus, I still have the mind of a depressed, anxiety-filled existentialist teenager even though I'm 22 years old, ie. I think about "What is the meaning of life" while in a conversation with someone, or "Aren't jawlines and nose-shapes the funniest thing in the world?"...

There's no outward academic problem at the time because I still get good grades and learn easily.

I think I need to give myself a swift kick in the a** to clean up my life but I don't think I really will unless some FOAs (Figures of Authority) tell me that it is absolutely necessary to be very organized and meticulous at work as well as in your personal life in the healthcare field in order to be an excellent nurse.

So, Doctors, nurses, or anyone else who comes on to these forums, if you consider yourself a good role model and successful at what u do, please tell me if this is how you live your life. If you dont consider yourself as good as you want to be, please tell me what you see from those who you admire. I'd really appreciate the feedback.

[SandyB]

Wow! Great thread! I think I'm normal. I am sure I will never be truly organized at home, I'm old enough to have just accepted "good enough". Work is a whole different place tho.....

[RN_Amy, RN]

I live in a pig sty at home... yet know where everything is... It's kind of bizarre actually... because everything in my house is either PERFECTLY in order.... or the total opposite...

At work however... I like everything to be organised to the point of me being called anal by colleagues... and everything has to be done MY way... because my way is the best way... :rotfl: you should see the way I tape IV's... I hate straggly-ended bits of tape.... :angryfire

It irritates me when people don't fill out charts appropriately..... and don't get me started on handwriting on medication charts and in progress notes....... UGGGH!

And just a random piece of trivia.... I once heard that 66% of undergraduate medical students shoes typical signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)..... which is understandable.... ).

Amy.

[hitechlvn]

Thank goodness for this thread! Now I don't have to go to the MD for even MORE medications! (jk). My house is like a post apoctoliptic (sp) area, but at work I am the epitomy of prioritizing and time management. Thank to you all for making me normal! heheh

[heart queen]

my refuge is my mini van "Bessie", when you open the passenger door, empty micky D's bags, pop cans, glass coffee mugs pour out. (The pile is as high as the seat !)

At home and especially work, I test the therapudic levels of my OCD meds :chuckle

[nursebedlam]

Are u extremely organized and meticulous? hell no, totally the oposite

[talaxandra]

Great to see that I'm not abnormal (or perhaps abnormal but in good company!) - at work the first thing I do after handover is a tidy round (tucking away stray chairs and removing half-empty mugs as I introduce myself to my patients), my pet hate is day-old swabs stuck to someone's old IV site, and my charting is a thing of beauty.

However, practically the only thing that sticks with me at home from work is that there's no clutter that gets in the way of emergencies - a clear path from the bed to the bedroom door, nothing in the middle of the stairs or in the middle of the livingroom.

So, like Moia, my colleagues are surprised to see my non-anally-arranged home. No mouldy plates and rodents, but the odd corner of dust, very many piles of papers, and the clutter that just won't stay put. I dream of a home where everything has it's place...

That said, there's order in the chaos, and if you look past the surface junk some hidden analness emerges. Apparently, while it's not unusual to alphabetise CDs, videos and books, it is bizarre to arrange your pantry into related zones (beverages, canned food, cereals, chocolate, grains...), and then sub-divide (canned legumes, vegies, fish, fruit, all in alphabetical order). I'm guessing it's also odd to go back to the zone listing and alphabetise that?

Maybe I am abnormal after all!

[KaroSnowQueen, RN]

I am very organized at work. Everything in it's place, got a routine that I do every day, charting done by x time, etc.

At home. Well. It's better than it used to be but I am still not up for housekeeper of the year any time soon!!!!!!!!!!

[JACALA_CL]

Nickname @ Work "anal-retentive"

Nickname @ Home "slob"

[mattsmom81]

I think my mother made me a bit compulsive about cleanliness and order, to be honest. As I grew older, I recognized this drive in me and that perfection was not possible...LOL! Not in work, not at home, and definitely not in relationships!

That said, I do like a bit of order at work, along with a certain meticulousness, so I gravitated to ICU.A bit of OCD works very well in critical care I've found...hehe.

As far as antisocial, well, one of my favorite things is time totally ALONE...especially following a hectic 12 hr shifts trying to please everybody and their sister.

Be good to yourself and best wishes...we all live and learn.:)

[Gldngrl]

The replies have been interesting to read b/c I would have never thought that people who are neat at work would be messy at home. I am organized everywhere all the time. I guess I'm going to have to rethink when I see another messy nurse's area and think that they have a pigsty at home, it's probably totally neat and tidy :rotfl:

[Audreyfay]

I am what I want to be. I learned a long time ago that I shouldn't sweat it out if things don't go quite how I would like them to be. Who cares if the sweeping doesn't get done every day? Nobody HAS to be a perfectionist. Actually, I've found it's much more fun to NOT be a perfectionist. Now, at work, I am thorough and can put my finger on things quite quickly. But otherwise, my husband tells me "I can't believe the professional you is really you!" As long as you are content with being who you are. I try hard not to SHOULD on myself. It makes me happier that way. Also....if you have been going on for years not being happy, why not try antidepressants? I look at it this way, if you didn't have enough potassium in your body, you'd take some, right? If you are having problems with social anxiety or depression, it is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. No one would ever guess that me today is the same person from 20 years ago. Paxil made me a new person. Life is short. If taking one pill a day can make my life more enjoyable, sign me up! And it's not illegal!

[zacarias, ASN, RN]

The replies have been interesting to read b/c I would have never thought that people who are neat at work would be messy at home. I am organized everywhere all the time.

Yeah it is an interesting phenomenona but I think of it like this. At work, nurses are dealing with people's lives and since we appear before patients, we also seek to look organized and professional.

At home I'm not that organized partly because I seem to keep everything that I don't need. At work, I would feel awkward if I weren't organized.