How to prepare for my new job?

I've accepted a job in a rural hospital where I will be rotating through the general floor (medical patients and swing bed type patients) and the ER and will have to do charge nurse duties too eventually. I'm a new grad/inexperienced nurse and would like some books that might be of assistance to me and/or any other organizational tools that might be helpful. Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN, RN]

Moved to First Year After Nursing Licensure for more response.

I wish you the best in your new job!

[ExpatHopeful, LPN, LVN]

The best books to turn to are the ones from nursing school, so I hope you kept your med-surg text book and your health assessment textbook. They'll be helpful if you want to read up on various diseases/tests at home after the fact or in preparation for a new clinical area. On the job your best friends are wikipedia for very basic info (as in: what's an ERCP again?), medscape for drug information, and whatever resources your hospital has (policy and procedure documents, length of stay guidelines, patient education handouts, pharmacy, etc)

For me, the most important organization tool was a shift task list that I developed for my own use based on one a colleague had. It's a single double sided sheet with 3 columns on each side, one for each patient, and has basic info (name, room number, procedure/condition, diet, fluid order, allergies, md pager number), about 10 check boxes with spaces next to them so I can write in tasks for the shift as they come up, a labs section, a checklist of documentation that needs to be completed for each patient, and a space at the bottom to write things to hand over to the next shift. You can tailor it to the things that you most need reminding of or information that you most need at hand, but for me this sheet was a game changer. Before, I was shuffling madly through sheets of paper trying to find the piece of info that I needed, or forgetting to do tasks.

[BacktotheBeach, ADN, BSN, RN]

Expat, do you have a copy of your task list that you would share, it sounds really great!

[jagged777]

the best books to turn to are the ones from nursing school, so i hope you kept your med-surg text book and your health assessment textbook. They'll be helpful if you want to read up on various diseases/tests at home after the fact or in preparation for a new clinical area. On the job your best friends are wikipedia for very basic info (as in: What's an ercp again?), medscape for drug information, and whatever resources your hospital has (policy and procedure documents, length of stay guidelines, patient education handouts, pharmacy, etc)

for me, the most important organization tool was a shift task list that i developed for my own use based on one a colleague had. It's a single double sided sheet with 3 columns on each side, one for each patient, and has basic info (name, room number, procedure/condition, diet, fluid order, allergies, md pager number), about 10 check boxes with spaces next to them so i can write in tasks for the shift as they come up, a labs section, a checklist of documentation that needs to be completed for each patient, and a space at the bottom to write things to hand over to the next shift. You can tailor it to the things that you most need reminding of or information that you most need at hand, but for me this sheet was a game changer. Before, i was shuffling madly through sheets of paper trying to find the piece of info that i needed, or forgetting to do tasks.

thanks. Can u pls pm me a copy of the task list thx.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

thanks. Can u pls pm me a copy of the task list thx.

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