Personal Resource Notebook

Help from other nurses please!

I am a brand new RN. Yet I am also a very proactive learner and constantly want to be a better nurse/caregiver.

i have noticed that some RNs have their own "resource notebook" ... usually alphabetically tabbed completely done by them. It's got disease process, protocols, meds and so on and so forth.

I want to start one of my own however I would like to know from some of you more experienced nurses as to what yours looks like and/or what have you included in it.

Thanks so much.

i have been following this site since before nursing school, during, nclex prep season and now to be here as a newly licensed RN is amazing!

Again hope some of you can help me out :)

Vanessa :) xo

That sounds cumbersome and outdated. My "notebook" is the internet and it serves me quite well.

I have condensed all my critical care coursework into a binder I keep in my lockers, and keep presentations for continued education in my email. However, I'm finding if I don't know something now, I either ask someone or look in the policies to find the information

Congrats, Vanessa!

If you're talking about the kind of notebook/binder I'm thinking of, it's an individual matter whether or not people find these useful. I've never had one for a couple of reasons: The ones I've seen people carrying around have too much extraneous information. With the hundreds or thousands of "fast facts" that generally apply (policy items, medication information, etc), which ones are really essential to your everyday work? In the end, a relative handful. When you have a notebook like that, the tendency is to put every bit of info you might ever need into it - and the result/effect is that you won't use it because, as Sour Lemon said, it's too cumbersome (literally and figuratively).

Secondly, now that everything is online, including policies, drug libraries, etc., there is no need for the notebook, and it might not be a good idea to get in the habit of treating it as a reliable guidebook, anyway, because the information will change in one way or another almost constantly. From a safety and liability standpoint you're better off consulting your employer's up-to-date information in real time.

In which type of environment is your first RN job?

I've never used one. I've been a nurse for 16 years and started before the internet was used terribly often. At my 1st job, my employer provided a resource such as that for all new hires...It was NICU, so our diagnoses and meds are quite unique. That being said, when I moved on from NICU, the internet was booming and I've let that be my resource. It's more likely to be up to date, and it's faster in a pinch than starting to shuffle through a notebook that could easily be a couple hundred pages.

I have a small one I keep in my bag. While all of our policies and procedures are online, they have them in weird places with not much rhyme or reason where you find them. I could spend a ridiculous amount of time looking for steps to a procedure, so those that we don't see "that" often I keep a scaled down printed copy in my book (plus I can make notes on it). Our facility usually lets us know when a policy/procedure is updated.

Like the others said, if you put "everything" in it, you probably won't use it. I like to have a hard copy of some of this stuff because if computers are down it's inevitably on night shift...and our wifi sucks big time in the hospital.

That sounds cumbersome and outdated. My "notebook" is the internet and it serves me quite well.

NesstheNurse, I also suggest finding good resource sites on the internet. I personally love Latest Medical News, Clinical Trials, Guidelines – Today on Medscape (free). It's the medical version of WebMD. Their content is referenced. They also have news, continuing education, and you can tailor your dashboard to your nursing specialty.

Another good site is Evidence-Based Clinical Decision Support at the Point of Care | UpToDate My hospital uses this particular website, and so I get my own free personal account. I think there is a small fee if you can't connect your account to an employer who uses them. It's worth checking out though, as they have a *wealth* of great info.

I hope these help!!

I have been using a nursing bindersince nursing school. With all the extra papers, handouts, and notes I need to keep, it's essential to stay organized. I have a binder for college reviewed by TheOlive . It's very easy and keeps all notes, handouts, etc in the same place.