How do experienced nurses do it to memorize everything?

Nurses LPN/LVN Nursing Q/A

Tomorrow is my third day of orientation and I want to show them I can be a great nurse even though I am very new.

How do you experienced nurses remember at what time all patients were sitting, out of bed, and all information and assessments that you did to each patient without writing anything down?

At the end of the shift I see these experienced nurses just filling out all of the paper work very very fast.

Me I feel like my brain gets blocked and I think to myself at this time in military time was my patient awake, sitting etc... and this is just one patient.

Any tips or is it just that my memory is not that great? :D

Specializes in geriatrics.

I write vitals, blood sugars, PRNs, dressing changes (as in): dsg 2000, adaptic, mepitel, Tyl ES X 2 1930. Short and sweet. I have many residents to remember, but I also don't want my "brain" cluttered.

Also, there is a moderator on this site that has some great report and organizational sheets for new nurses. She's really nice, but I'm fried and I can't rember her name right now. I'll think of it.

Got it. Her name is Esme12. She's a mod here, and I've seen her post some really sweet "helps" sheets more than a couple of times.

Ooops! LOL

I scrolled back and saw that she already beat me to it. Look at her Word file sheets. Good stuff!

Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

After you develop a routine, it gets a lot easier to remember the things you did.

once you get report from the prior nurse and go ahead and make your rounds and put a face to a name you will remember whats going on with that pt. just do what has been posted prior. like on my report sheet that I took from the other nurse I will write silly little reminders about what happened that day and what tests were done and vitals and so forth. majors I always write down because then at the end of the shift its easier to write my nurses note or pass on all necessary info to the nurse. You will get the hang of it. We all do. And when your getting report ask questions ?!!?!? It will help you. :)

Everyone develops their own style. When I first started I found myself coming up with new forms to organize my shift every week. After awhile, it just comes more naturally.

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