Needing Suggestions

[KimInKy, ADN, RN]

I start my first job as an official RN Monday. I am worried I won’t do well or will forget something. Time management and prioritizing is not my strong suits. Do y’all recommend any particular system or brain sheet to use? I will appreciate any and all advice you want to give me. 

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

You say you're a new nurse.  You'll develop the time management and prioritization skills with time. You'll also find the best brain sheet for you by asking your unit. Good luck on your new career!

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

Congratulations on starting your first RN job!! Let me tell you now, you will forget something, you'll make mistakes, and sometimes you'll feel like you're not doing well. And it's going to be okay, because you're learning. You will have a preceptor to help you when those things come up at first and by the time you're on your own you will be less likely to forget things or make mistakes. You're going to feel new for a while, so don't be too hard on yourself! As Hoosier mentioned, other nurses on your unit may have resources that work well for you, or you will figure out how to use what you have to make something that works for you. Take a deep breath, don't get yourself too worried ahead of time, try to enjoy starting out in your new career. Good luck!

[Davey Do]

Yours is a common concern, KimInKY.  I'd advise you to use allnurses SEARCH option and put something in like "new nurse advice" and read some of the past threads. I did and got lots of hits.

Good luck and congratulations on your new position!

[Nunya, BSN]

I've always used a very basic brain sheet, name on top and the shift hours going down in a column with what I need to do next to the hour.  Any info I need to remember/follow up on is at the bottom (you gotta write small).  If I had one or 2 meds at one time I'd write them out (Amp for ampicillin, or abx), if I had several I'd write "medsx5".  Then I would cross out stuff as I did it. Try to leave some room in between the hours for  stuff that comes up, probably easier to do if you use the paper the long way. Sometimes I used red ink for REALLY important stuff.  I have seen brains where all the extra stuff was delineated in a particular spot, like dx, labs to check etc but I was never that organized, I just threw it together in a hodgepodge at the bottom of the column.  Just get in the habit of always making sure you have it when you leave a room cuz the terror you'll feel when you can't find it is really bad!  Your preceptor might have suggestions or you'll see ones you like, just try not to change around too often or that'll confuse you, that's why I always used the same one basically.  You'll be fine!  

[Jdinh1992]

I like to fold my patients SBARS in half, and write on the back of them. I’ll divide the paper into 12 blocks with times at the tops and medications at which time, important lab values, vitals, their Dr’s name, pt name and room, if they’re ACHS, full code/DNR, any collections/tasks I have to do, and a defining trait to help me remember who they are (I.e. heparin drip, peg tube, AMS) because I’ll be honest, I don’t know any of my patients first thing in the morning. And I write all this in different ink. I really like the multi-ink pens. Saves from having 14 pens in your pockets

when I get morning report, I write down all that stuff on the front so I can just flip my paper down and look it over.

[EDNURSE20, BSN]

All these you will develop in time. You shouldn’t worry about it. 
 

as for brain sheets, trail lots out see what works. When I worked on the floor I found I didn’t tend to use them, I find if I wrote something down it goes out of my head. The only thing I found helpful was writing down when meds were due. For example if it was a morning shift I knew all my pt would have breakfast meds, but not everyone had lunch or afternoon meds. So having them written saved a lot of time, instead of having to keep checking everyone charts. Especially if they had odd timing of meds.