Help with organizational skills in Med/Surg

Nrs_angie, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2006

Hi Sasha,

My first semester on Med / Surg was rather difficult for me at first. I had no organizational skills at all...

Here's some tips:

1) find out how many pt's you will have

2) find out what your instructor expects: for instance do you have to do complete cares including bathing, feeding, dressing, ect

3) find out what procedures your patient needs: dressing changes, physical therapy, do they have to go to x-ray etc etc

4) make a schedule for yourself

example

700 - greet pt, check name band, allergy bracelet, safety (siderails up X2), call bell in reach, get vital signs, and assess for pain, check if they have an IV and how full the bag is and does the tubing need changed.

715 - chart vital signs; check to see what your pt has scheduled for the day such as physical therapy, surgery, x-ray, etc.

730 - attend nurse's report

800 - meds if applicable; breakfast, assist if needed

0845- assess head to toe; chart assessment

0900 - meds

and so on and so forth...

PurpleHairUnicorn · Apr 13, 2006

When I went through clinicals back in the dark ages, we went to the hospital the evening before and got our assignments. Allong with the schedule, I also made a check list of what needed to be done, and crossed it off as I did it. Hope this helps.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Apr 14, 2006

sasha,

it's mostly about time management and prioritizing. these are two skills that you will spend a good deal of your first years (notice i said years, with an "s") learning to master. you will approach every day of work or clinical school session with a "to do" list. that list is ever changing and must be capable of being amended at a moments notice. this one ability is what makes nurses so valuable as hospital nurses, or to other careers if they decide to change jobs. most experienced nurses could write manuals on multi-tasking. basically, as a nurse you want to primarily look at and carry out doctor's orders while staying within good principles of nursing as well as pay attention to the patient's safety and accomplishment of their activities of daily living. take established facility routines into consideration--things like meal times, established medication administration times, etc. you have to make a decision for every patient as to which things have to be done and in what chronological order. there are so many things to consider. so, for your first clinicals keep your list simple. what tasks are you being required to accomplish with the patient? you definitely want to include those on your "to do" list. will you do your physical assessment before you give the patient his medications? only you will know that from reviewing the data available to you about the patient. here are some links for you to explore that will help you get started as you approach these organizational skills.

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/third-semester-student-time-management-70617.html - a very good, lengthy post on nursing time management from june of 2004 in the general nursing discussion forum

http://www.psywww.com/mtsite/page5.html - list of links to information. notice, particularly at the bottom of the page, the links to action plans, activity logs, time estimates and prioritized to do lists.

http://www.timethoughts.com/ - time thoughts.com. you don't need to register to get into the site. just click on the links that interest you on the left side of the page. some very useful explanations and tips here.

http://www.localcareers.com/links/time.htm - thirteen timely tips for more effective personal time management