Discbound Nursing Notebook

sava123 · Dec 1, 2021

I’ve had several nurses express interest in the notebook that I use at work. Overtime, it has become more of a journal that I update on daily basis. I think the best thing about it is that I can access any information in it in a matter of a few seconds. Since there are many moments through out the day when I have to think on the go, having a reference material that is organized, compact, flexible, and easy to use makes a huge difference.

The notebook is entirely custom made, but it is a very simple project that that can be done in less than an hour.

There are plenty of notebooks of this sort already available for sale on Amazon; however, you cannot add tabs to these notebooks because their covers are not long enough.

DISCBOUND NOTEBOOK

The whole system is based on discbound notebook. There are many manufacturers of disbound notebooks:

Tula

Eagle

Tul

The only things that are truly needed, in my opinion, are hole punch and disks. The rest of the things you can make out of materials of your choice.

TUL Custom Note-Taking System Discbound Hole Punch

Hole punch is the most expensive item of the whole set.

Disk can be of any size desired. Mine are close to ¾”, and they work perfect for my application.

SYSTEM

My system consists of several elements. I’ll describe it from inside out.

1. Pages

Pages of the notebook are 8.5” x 5.5”. It is essentially half of the standard letter sheet.

This allows the notebook to fit in side pocket of my scrub pants.

2. Tabs
Each section of the notebook has tabs that allow easy access to information.

3. Sections

I partition notebook into various sections based on my needs.

Section are made out of any material that is thick enough to be used as a divider. So far I used two pocket folders and file folders for that.

Paper Folders

I try to organize sections like tabs for the ease of access. I do it by making dividers smaller. It also makes it easier to flip to different sections.

4. Covers

My covers are made out of covers of a larger discbound notebook that I purchased a while back. Covers can be made out of any thick plastic material. Any thick plastic binder will do.

You just got to make sure it fits into the hole punch. The one from Office Depot seems to work just fine.

Since my notebook has tabs and sections, the covers have to be extended to accommodate both of these features.

The back cover is transparent, which allows me to put a sheet with reference material behind it. Placing phone directory there is probably a good idea, but I have mine in another place. Large, transparent dividers from TUL work great for that.

MAKING THE FOLDER

In my opinion, it is better to go with 2 covers and 2 thick divider. Covers and dividers serve double purpose. They add rigidity to the notebook, which makes it easier to use it as a writing surface.

So one plastic binder can be transformed into 1 discbound folder.

The process is pretty straightforward. I'll let images do the talking ...

Cover measurements: 5-5/8” x 9-3/8”

The only tricky part about making the folder is adjusting the hole punch. There should be around 1/8" gap left on each side. Hole punch has clickable adjustment system that keeps adjuster in place.

Dividers measurements: 4-3/4” x 9-3/8”

I strongly recommend to chamfer corners unless you want holes in your pants.

Front cover has a little cut out that makes it easier to open the notebook.

Another adjustment is needed for pages since they have different dimensions.

TABS

Tabs measure ½” x 1-1/2”.

I don’t bother buying tabs from office supply store. My tabs are made out of regular sticky notes. You can find 24 pack of sticky notes on Amazon at a very good price.

Highland Sticky Notes, 3 x 3 Inches, Yellow, 24 Pack

I just cut sticky notes into long sections and trim excessive length.

To make things even easier, I make pages with sticky tabs. This allows me to prepare for the day more efficiently.

I simply take the brain sheets that have already been hole punched and put tabs on them. This takes half a minute at the most and I am ready to hit the ground running.

On the bottom of every brain sheet there is a guide for placement of the tabs. I decided to stop at 7 ...

NOTES

SECTION 1

brain.sheet-06.24.21-SCALE.96-RESOLUTION.1200.pdf

First section is dedicated to brain sheets. I studied many brain sheets and incorporated the features that I liked the most into my own brain sheet.

I had to rely on abbreviations to make it as compact as possible.

So far it has worked for me on MS, Tele, and DOU.

My brain sheet was made in Adobe Illustrator. I usually save it to .pdf format for printing.

The best paper to use for printing is 28 pound paper. It is a step up from regular printing paper that is not see through. This allow me to use both sides of the paper.

I usually print brain sheets on both sides of the page. Once a patient gets discharged, I can simply flip the page and use the other side.

I use mainly pencil on the brain sheet. This allows me to update information through out patient’s stay.

SECTION 2

The second section of my notebook is dedicated to reference material that I need to do certain tasks. It can be discharge / admission instructions, EHR system notes, etc. Being a traveler it is important for me to have reference material on hand that is very organized and can be accessed in a matter of a few seconds. I, personally, don’t like to ask people the same thing twice.

SECTION 3

Section 3 is dedicated to material related to nursing. It includes skills that I use less often and need to reference, medication charts, etc. This section covers the things that I actually do at work. It is not a collection of things that I may potentially do someday. If I ever had a question on how to do something, and I thought it would be useful in the future, then it goes into this section.

SOFWARE

I use mainly Adobe Illustrator and Microsoft Word for formatting and designing the layout.

Microsoft Word allows you to orient pages in landscape format and then split them into two columns.

SCHEDULE

8-1/2" x 11" schedule was never enough for me, so I extended mine to 11" x 17". I fold it into accordion to minimize the size. You can print 11" x 17" at FedEx locations.

time.sheet-half-SCALE.97-RESOLUTION.1200.pdf

Being a travel nurse and working registry on the side, I have to be extremely quick to adapt to any sort of environment. I feel that this system has allowed me to do this. I hope others will find this information useful.