new orders at end of shift

[august07]

What do you do when you get new orders right before you are planning to leave? Do you leave it for the oncoming nurse or stay an extra 15-30 minutes and do them yourself? I feel like I shouldn't have to stay late, but on the other hand, I can see where it would be really annoying to walk into a bunch of new orders.

[GrumpyRN63, ADN, RN]

Only if it's important,stat lab, stat lasix or narcotic .Routine orders go to next shift. Settle an admission, quick once over vs, settle w/pain issues etc,quicknote. Anything mod important I'll tellthenextnurse so she's aware it needs to be done as soon as she can get to it , people appreciate the heads-up.

[Uptoherern, RN]

this is why nursing is a 24 hour a day profession. Nothing is ever "done". Pass it on, don't feel guilty.

[Chaya, ASN, RN]

I will look at the order to see how critical the order is. If this is an order for labs to be done the next AM I leave that for the oncoming RN/ UC to take off but if the Rx is Stat I will at least fax it to pharmacy. If it's something like hanging fluids that we have on the floor I will get it started. In either case I will be sure to communicate to the oncoming shift that there is a new order and what I have (or have not) done.

[aboood25]

What do you do when you get new orders right before you are planning to leave? Do you leave it for the oncoming nurse or stay an extra 15-30 minutes and do them yourself? I feel like I shouldn't have to stay late, but on the other hand, I can see where it would be really annoying to walk into a bunch of new orders.

depend on order .is it emergency or ordinary? . if it is emergency i have to carry out it even though i will be late for 20 or 30 min. if it is ordinary order , i prefer to leave it for next shift.

[David's Harp]

For us, it's understood if anything, including and admission comes in less than 1/2 before the next shift is due in, it belongs to the next shift. All shifts have that understanding.

That said, if it's just an order or two, I'll do them. I'll start the vitals and stuff for an admission, but I won't do the whole thing since ours take at least an hour per person to do.

Likewise on our floor. It goes into report, and as long as the communication is good and the order isn't life-or-death-stat, it'll get done. If it was life-or-death, you'd have already been at bedside anyway.

Nursing is a 24-hour job, though it's taking me time to realize that that doesn't mean I do it for 24 hours!