Regular day for a nurse?

loriangel14, RN · Oct 1, 2012

Day shift?

Get report, do vitals, do blood sugars,give am meds, set up breakfast trays, help aids wash patients, do dressings,do assessments, give treatments, communicate with pharmacy, dietary, doctors, other nurses,families,answer bells, toilet people, do admissions, do discharges,document,pick people up off the floor, feed people, ambulate patients, do post mortem care,check orders, get samples, run to the lab,help my coworkers,check lab results,document, document,document,give report.

Everyone will have different day routine.

Tarabara · Oct 2, 2012

Well to start there is no "regular" day for a nurse. They are all different. But as a guideline I start the day with getting report from 730-8am. We have an hour window before and after med times to give them so I start my 9am meds at 8. I go into pt rooms and say good morning and introduce myself, take vitals, see if they have any immediate needs, and give meds. If things are going smoothly I will also do my assessments during that time. This will usually easily take me to 10am to do all that will all of my patients. I will then check orders as we are required to check them at least every 2 hours, I check labs/pertinent pt info at that time as well. If there's nothing immediate to do I will then chart. That usually doesnt happen though, there's almost always new orders or appointments I need to get patients to like xray or dialysis. I also like to round with the docs whenever I can so I try to do that while completing the other stuff. So its actually more like 11-1130 before I can begin to chart. I'll chart some and check orders again. Usually lunch comes about noon so I go check blood sugars and give insulin or help set up trays. Most patients have 1300 meds as well so depending on what it is I'll give that with lunch or after. I like to wait till after for IV meds so they're not hooked up while trying to eat. Then again check orders, as I work for a teaching hospital with docs there all day long orders trickle in all day instead of just in the am. After everyone is settled with their lunch, 1300 meds are done, and if I dont have any new orders I will take lunch. So its usually about 1500-1530 after lunch and I will check on patients, check orders again, chart if i still need to, etc. Most of the time there's not another med pass until 1700 but there's always something that comes up that patients need like pain meds, dressing changes, straight caths, etc. Plus I can get a new admit or discharge patients at any time of the day so if that comes up I have to work that in too. Then 1700 dinner comes and its another round of blood sugars/insulin and possible IV meds after dinner which takes me up until 1800-1830. Its usually quieter after that for the last hour before 1930 report to night shift. Unless of course I get an admit at that time or something comes up!

I'm very fortunate that I work with an awesome group of techs who really take care of the patients. Our patients who are on q4 vitals (which is most) get them done at 0600, 1000, 1400, 1800 and the techs will do them but its still my job to make sure they were done and to check them. They will also check blood sugars but again its ultimately my responsibility to make sure they're done and wnl. They also are very good about making sure patients get showers/cleaned up but once again its my responsibility. So if we're short staffed with techs all that falls on me and I have to make time for it as well as everything else. Thats why time management is so critical in nursing!

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2012

There's no such thing as a "regular" day, even in "just regular floor nursing." I am not a floor nurse anymore but here's how a typical day might go when I was:

Alarm clock goes off at 5:15 am, 1st thought "15 hrs until I'm home again." Quickly get ready for the day, out the door by 5:50am to catch the 1st bus. 1st bus doesn't come so now I'm already running behind schedule. 1st bus finally comes but I miss the 2nd bus because the first bus was behind schedule. Get on the next bus then finally hit the floor by 6:40, look at patient assignment then go in the back room to start looking up patients' charts. Typical day shift will start with 3 patients, nights would be 4-5. Listen to charge report then hit the floor by 7:10 am to get report from the night shift nurses.

I have 3 patients and the day is full of running back and forth to tests, medicating patients, picking patients up from tests, a doctor I don't know wants to know why he doesn't have an interpreter for another nurse's patient (I don't know and that's not my patient) and then he asks if I can "schedule one" (because apparently I'm now his secretary) and a mother I don't know wants to know why the cafeteria is taking so long to bring her child's food. PT, Nutrition, Infectious Disease all want to talk to me at the same time or know where my patient went. A random consultant wants me to track down "Sue" for her.

If I'm lucky, I'll get to scarf down lunch in 5 minutes while standing up. If I'm not lucky, I'll be there charting until 9:30 (the final 2 hrs unpaid) and will not eat, drink or pee until I get home. If I'm there til 9:30, the buses will take FOREVER and it will be at least 10:30 by the time I get home. Then I'll basically just fall into bed because I have to do it all again tomorrow. I do NOT miss inpatient...

dhoff · Oct 2, 2012

Thanks so much for the responses! I love to hear all about your totally unregular days!