can you help me be less careless with paperwork

[RNsuperstar]

Hi all,

I am a new grad nurse, and I was lucky enough to land a job in a hospital on a busy med surg floor. Okay, I am not trying to brag, but I consider myself very smart, I did really well in nursing school, and I feel I good critical thinking skills. I am very critical of myself, and I want to constantly improve.

I have been working for 2 weeks (6 shifts) and in each shift I seem to have temporairly misplaced a peice of paper.....and a couple of times I have lost them completely. The papers that I have lost are not essential....and can be re-made up, but this costs me time, and my preceptor kind of looks at me like...."are you kidding me?" I will be with my prpeceptro for 12 weeks, but next week, I need to not lose/temp misplace anything.

We use binders to keep SBARS, MARS, ACCUCHEK, and lab results in. I need to keep my papers in the binder unless I am using them (ie take MAR out when pulling meds, gving drugs, then back.....or Acchek out for test/coverage, then back). But when a dr calls, or somebody calls me to another room.....I lose my thought process, and then misplace/lose paperwork.

I am very confident in my ability to pulll meds/check them/hold them if necessary. I have already caught 2 med errors (wrong med in pyxis, and wrong dose piggy back setn up from pharmacy.) I also feel very comfortable with d/c and admission. I am also confidnet in my assesment skilss, and setting up IV meds. I know these are all kinda basic things, but at least I know I am pretty good at them. I think I am so focused on these things.....that I put my paperwork down, without thinking about it.

Did anybody have this issue......can you help me be less careless with paperwokr.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Welcome to chaos. Get a clipboard.... I still manage to lose them, but they are much easier to find than a piece of paper.

Also, put the clipboard down in the exact same place when you enter a room.

Good luck, stop being so hard on yourself...

There is a long line of people ahead of you.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Develop habits. A clip board is a good idea. I always wore a lab jacket and had my pockets full of my brain matter. Make your clip board an extension of your arm and go nowhere without it. It will come in time as it becomes more and more of a habit in your routine. This is one of the reasons nurses don't like change or disruption to our routines.......it makes it difficult to keep organized in the chaos and in our OCD habit is safety from mistakes. Sounds like you are on a good start! Congrats!

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

Esme12 and I do the same things - i like to use a clip board to keep my papers together - if i only need one then it stays in my lab coat pocket. i find if i use a storage type clipboard like this i get better results in staying organized:

[Unknown member]

Funny because my nursing instructor told me the other day that i am not allowed to use my clipboard anymore... she gave the MRSA excuse but then preceded to say "New nurses with clipboards get made fun of".. uh ok?

I love my clipboard, but now cannot use it at clinical. i was told i have to keep my paperwork in my pockets.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

obviously the clip board gets left out of a isolation room and gets wiped down a few times per shift with a pdi wipe. I have been using clipboards for years - i've never had anyone make fun of me (to my face anyhow! ha ha)