Assessments on 11-7

I don't work in LTC, but I do work from 11-7:30. I get report, and immediately round and do my assessments so I am done by about midnight. I find that if I do it right away, it is not TOO late and people can still get their sleep. Obviously, there are days when it is harder to get them done first thing, but for the most part that's how I do it.

Tailor your assessments to what the patient needs assessing on. For example, if the patient has some lung issues going on, spend extra time listening to all lung sounds. I'm not saying skimp on an assessment, but if you are spread thin (as most of us are) I'd do a fairly quick assessment in other areas i.e. bowel sounds, pulses, LOC, etc in order to fully assess lung sounds. Prioritize your care & individualize needs. Unfortunately, a total, whole, and complete head to toe assessment is many times impossible to do given the workload that nurses have. See what I'm saying? It's not cutting corners, you still need to assess your patients, but spend more time assessing what a patient is actually having issues with. Once you've taken it all in, you'll start to think like: Ok, this patient is having lung issues. Are they edematous? What's the character of the lung sounds? O2 sats ok? Are they on O2? Is it more of an acute process like pneumonia or chronic process like COPD? etc... Once you get your rhythm down with performing assessments, you'll be able to ask & address questions such as those & know what to look for with certain types of patients, which makes things easier. Hope this helps! :)