How do you remember to check on patients q 15min or 2hrs, etc?

ckh23, BSN, RN · May 13, 2012

mental note

wish_me_luck, BSN, RN · May 13, 2012

If I work in a hospital, then I would use a phone on vibrate, not ringer...with a message do your turns, check your pts, etc. That way you know you checked them q two hours. One system around in my area has whiteboards the nurses have to initial every 1-2 hours.

anotherone, BSN, RN · May 13, 2012

I'm still a student but i wanted to ask a real nurse how they go about remembering to check on certain patients that require being checked on every 15 min, 2 hrs, or whatever... do you have alarms on your watch? does it pop up on your pc when its time? mental note? Thanks.

Mental note, remembering the q 1 hour insulin drips, or surgical incision checks, or q 1 hour eye drops , blood and vitals more frequently for that, etc are rarely the problem. the issue is being able to multitask that and everything else. usually in med surg you would only get 1-2 pts that intense so it would be hard to forget those.

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · May 13, 2012

Mental note. But also, when you know about the whys of checking on particular patients as often as you do, that helps. It just sorta becomes part of your routine.

I used to have to write everything down to remember it, but I've discovered that working as a nurse, there is a ton that I am capable of remembering about my patients.

Staragate, ADN, ASN, RN · May 13, 2012

Create a brain sheet.

-Make a column for each patient, with some vital info - dx, orders, info

-Then write down times from the beginning of your shift to the end.

-At the hour of each task, make a note - med, turn, vitals, whatever.

-Check it off as you do them.

-Check the sheet as you do your rounding.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · May 13, 2012

Mental note. When I worked in the hospital, pretty much everyone was on VS/neuro checks q 4hr.

They were done at 8, 12 and 4. I'd start doing my 4:00 assessments around 3:30 and just work around the unit until I'd seen all my patients. If the kids had CSF drains, they had to be emptied every hour. I did it every hour on the hour, just easier that way. It doesn't really matter if you empty the drain at 12:07 this time and at 1:02 next time, in the end you're going to end up recording all the output. If someone was on q 2 hr VS/neuros/turns, etc. I did it on the even hours.

q 15 min checks are more common, I believe, in psych or the PACU. The only time I ever had a patient on q 15 minute checks on the floor was one who had to be put in behavioral restraints. You're usually stuck in the room if that's the case so it's not that hard to remember. We did have to do BPs q 15 minutes on patients getting high dose IV Methlprednisolone but the monitors were set to automatically do it and the results would automatically pull from the monitor to the computer.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 13, 2012

pop up on your pc! sorry, that made me laugh so hard i snorted milk out my nose. :bugeyes:

ahem.

i would not expect to be sitting at the computer very much waiting for reminders to come up. when you get into the routine of being a nurse with a regular patient load and protocols to follow, you'll just....do it, sort of like, oh, i dunno, you expect your period on time or know what day the trash gets collected or something. the "brain" is something i never went without when i did patient care. that's your periodic reminder-- but it's a manual, not digital program .

CompleteUnknown · May 13, 2012

I'm more likely to forget something if it has to be done 'some time today' than if it has to be done, say, every 30 minutes. I think you'll find this will just fall into place - getting the time to actually be able to do the thing every 30 minutes is another matter altogether!

exnavygirl-RN · May 13, 2012

When I was floor nursing and had a lot going on I would use the timer and alarm on my cell phone. If I had to do q1h neuro checks I would set the timer. If I had antibiotics to hang I would set my alarm, etc.

Guest 360983 · May 14, 2012

I'm an ER nurse. I don't have a tough time remembering who needs frequent vitals/checks because they tend to be the sicker ones who I am going to check on more often, regardless of orders. Things like BP after nitro aren't too hard to remember, as it's part of the process and the way I learned it. The techs are responsible for all vitals and if someone isn't q4, we'll usually put a sheet of paper on the patient's door that indicates how often they need vitals (usually q2). If it's a patient who needs q15 minute vitals, they should be an ICU patient which means they should be in resus rooms and hooked to a monitor that automatically does the vitals.

Now, remembering scheduled meds for my boarding patients, that's a different story and something I struggle with.

Do-over, ASN, RN · May 14, 2012

Brain/note sheet - I list med times, neuro check times, accu check times, etc.

I round hourly, or as close as I can, anyway.

Patients that REQUIRE q15 or q30 checks will either be 1:1s or in the unit. Simply not possible with 4-5 sick patients (plus admissions, etc).

If someone is on something like an insulin drip they are generally always at the front of my mind.