Day in the Life of an RN

I work night shift 7p-7a

get bedside report

assess patients, take vital signs, make sure their personal needs are taken care of

pass meds usually takes me 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours

open notes, fill out skin sheets/ education sheets

(I do rounds [check on patients, see if there's anything they need] on the odd hours)

chart checks(making sure all dr. orders are done)

catch up on charting

fill out charge sheets(updates on my patients for the charge nurse)

check labs, pass out pain and anxiety meds as pt's need/want them

day shift is much crazier than nights, patients going in and out for proceedures, discharges and admits, and lots more meds to give

call doctors about high/low pressures, bad labs, pt who wants/needs sleeping med, pain meds and none ordered

A LOT of my time is spent helping people to the bathroom ( i work on a telemetry floor and most everyone is older and on fall precautions)

I stay pretty busy till about 3:30am, then I usually eat can relax a little and read through pt histories till about 4:30am when I'm charting my last set of vitals and getting ready to pass 6am meds (which I do @ 5am)

Days, at least where I work, are pretty much non stop busy and most nurses get out late

In an ICU, working 7p to 7a - with 1 or 2 patients..

You will get report first on your patients then you will assess them, check their monitors, lines, medications, drips, ventilators, etc...

In the ICU environment you can do vital signs every 5 minutes sometimes, but the general standard is hourly or every half hour, you can do blood sugars every 15 minutes and hourly, you can give medications hourly and then also have medications running continuously through your IVs that control your patients sedation, pain medication, blood pressure, blood sugar, pressures in their heart, urine, etc... and you may be running and be responsible for all of them at the same time.

You will change the rates of your medications according to how well or badly your patient is doing, sometimes every 5-10 minutes, and chart that with vital signs at the same time.

You re-do your whole head to toe assessment every 2-4 hours, or more frequently and you are directly at your patients bedside the whole night.

You are also frequently going to CT, MRI, running dialysis, putting in lines, changing medications and drips, working codes, responding to codes or emergency needs throughout the hospital and in your unit.

You withdraw life support sometimes, as well, working with organ donation protocols and things like that.

You do a lot of coordination with case management, social work, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy... you also work very closely with the doctors. In the ICU the doctors tend to be roaming around on the unit to deal with emergencies, so you get to have a good relationship with them and you learn a lot from them everyday while you navigate different patients.

You also do a TON of family education and support.

I work ER, Sat and Sun nights only, and no two days are EVER the same.

Never know what's gonna walk through the doors. Therefore, I don't have a routine, I go with the flow and roll with the punches.

I was hoping that one of ya'll could get me a brief on what a typical day looks like for ya'll? Tell me what you do at your job? I am looking to getting into nursing school and was hoping for a good idea of what exactly RN's do.

Thank you!!!!

nursing is all but what you see on tv

I was hoping that one of ya'll could get me a brief on what a typical day looks like for ya'll? Tell me what you do at your job? I am looking to getting into nursing school and was hoping for a good idea of what exactly RN's do.

Thank you!!!!

I work am shift 7am to 7pm on a med/surg/trauma unit

1. get report and coffee

2. look at my med sheets and see if there are any early meds I need to give by this time it is 8 am

3. depending if I have an assistant I will pass my breakfast and do assessments at the same time including vitals if there are no assistants.

4. pass medications by this time it is 845am

5. AM care depending on whether I have an assistant, if no assistant I do baths, linen changes etc. from 915 to 1030

6. charting... till noon... and relax if no one calls

7. accuchecks and noon med pass if there are any and pass lunches and do vitals (will delegate to CNA if one is available)

8. LUNCH time for me 1 or 2 pm then pick up lunch trays

9. update charting, look over new orders

10 4pm-530 vitals, dinners accuchecks, and final followup on charting

11. by 6 pm I will do adding up my I and O's

12 by 630pm I am usually done.

13. 7pm report and leave by 730pm

Inpatient Hospice Unit

Start shift by counting narcotics with off going shift.

Get report

Check meds to see if I have anything due.

Go see my best patients first, if possible. That way, if the sicker ones need more of my time, I know that everyone has at least seen my face.

I try to chart on everyone as soon as I see them.

End of life: LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of education and emotional support. I may only have 4 people dying, but I consider all their family members my patients too. They are hurting just as bad (in some cases, worse) than my dying patients. I have spent many an hour in the family lounges sharing life stories and laughing and crying with my patient's famlies.

Eat lunch somewhere inbetween the start and end of shift.

Do any admits or help with postmortum as needed

Go home and pray I did the right things for my patients and their families.