Clincal Paperwork

[Pneumothorax, BSN, RN]

So, All nurses, i ask of you how long does it take you to do clinical paperwork the night before you go to the unit at 7am?

I know our paperwork may be different, but im talking from patient assignment to doing meds, labs and jotting down some general info and a nursing diagnosis. How long does it take you?

I feel like i may have missed something or at risk for falling behind. I did not sleep a wink last night and had to write up meds (like 27) and labs for 2 patients... Why does it take me 8-9 hours of prep ? what am i doing wrong?

I think part of it is the patient assignments arent posted until 4pm. Maybe if they were made earlier it would help..idk.

at any rate, i went to clincal today prepared with all my paperwork was late and my instructor was like oh u cant stay etc, i started crying. and told her i had no sleep and ..meh.

so i was told to go home and sleep and take care of myself --which i agree i needed. i just now woke up.. thank god i have wed off too.

im so close to the end. i really dont want to give up but i dont know what else to do...im literally losing my mind

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

since I'm first semester my clinical ppwork is probably shorter than yours but I find it takes me a good 2 hours or so - and I only have one patient...right now we're not required to do the meds (just list them) because we haven't had pharm yet.

I've found its much much faster to google the diagnoses rather than page through my med/surg book - not sure if you use that strategy or not - perhaps that could help...

just a quick hug and keep your chin up! I'm glad your instructor let you go home to sleep...

[RKpianoman, APRN]

For two patients, it takes me about 5-6 hours to write everything up; and, that's if everything goes perfectly. The amount of paperwork they give us as we get closer and closer to the end is ridiculous...I've looked up "Acetaminophen" at least 15 times, why can't I just tell whether or not it's a safe dose, describe side effects to look for, and go on to some other med that I don't know? Arrrgh, frustrating!

But don't give up, the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train!

[Pneumothorax, BSN, RN]

For two patients, it takes me about 5-6 hours to write everything up; and, that's if everything goes perfectly. The amount of paperwork they give us as we get closer and closer to the end is ridiculous...I've looked up "Acetaminophen" at least 15 times, why can't I just tell whether or not it's a safe dose, describe side effects to look for, and go on to some other med that I don't know? Arrrgh, frustrating!

But don't give up, the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train!

i know its not a train...ive already been hit by it LOL!

thanks for the replys :)..im glad im not the only one drowning in this mess lol

[JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN]

Okay, you will get faster at this. One thing you might want to do is make yourself a spreadsheet with the most commonly prescribed drugs and the info needed for each medication. In the winter, you may find that you have a lot of pneumonia patients, keep all your prior work so that you can reuse some of that info. I was so thankful to have evening clinicals to start with so that I could work on the preps in the evening and then the next day. My friend who had morning clinicals was staying up until 2 am and waking up at 5 am and was just dying last year from lack of sleep. We compared notes and I had her compare notes with some people who were getting there preps done in 2-3 hours. We both culled down our preps to just the very necessary info. In the beginning my instructor would ask WHY is THIS patient receiving THIS medication. Eventually I figured out that the same drug might be given for different reasons. Your brain will begin to put random info together to make sense out of it all. It won't always be this awful...... just keep persevering.