Report time

NPRoseMona · Apr 17, 2007

Thank you all for your messages. You are right. Part of my problem is that I am a new nurse. Thank you for the report sheet. I hope things get better soon.

oldiebutgoodie, RN · Apr 17, 2007

Thank you all for your messages. You are right. Part of my problem is that I am a new nurse. Thank you for the report sheet. I hope things get better soon.

And you can always say, "I'm a new nurse, and still refining my report. Thanks for the feedback. How do you keep track of .... (enter here)."

Hopefully, the other nurse will either quit being a PITA, will give positive feedback, and you might learn something. Or, the other nurse might just be a jerk.

ANyway, it does get better. I stunk at giving report (and a lot more stuff) as a new nurse, but after 2 years, I think I've got it...

Hang in there!

Oldiebutgoodie

angel's RN · Apr 17, 2007

Dear Daytonite,

This report sheet is fantastic!! I had one that one of the nurses at work gave me, but it is very unorganized. Mind if I use it??

's RN

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2007

angel's rn. . .of course you may use it! i've been making my own report sheets for years to help me organize my work days. originally, i typed them on an old manual typewriter. once computers came along and i learned how to work with the word processing software i really got fancy! this particular one was created on word using table formatting, so it can be amended easily if you know how to work with table. it is actually a series of rows that was copied and pasted to fill the page. the report sheet i actually used had a much larger space at the top that was filled with extension numbers of hospital departments or doctors that i was calling frequently so i didn't have to look them up all the time. i also had to have the date up there because i could never trust myself to remember the correct date--and no it's not because i was confused. i read somewhere once that the more information you can put down on paper is that much less you have to keep in your mind to think about remembering. i just printed one of these sheets out on my printer each day before going to work. i used the back of the paper to take notes when i called doctors for orders or whatever. i also used to circle things in red ink and highlight lab and x-ray tests with a yellow highlighter to draw my attention to them. in those boxes at the top left that were for the room numbers i used to put one forward slash mark when i finished my last check of that patient's chart for signed off doctor's orders and a backward slash mark when i finished my charting for that patient. that way i could easily identify if i missed any chart checks or charting before i was ready to leave for home. by the end of my shift my report sheets looked like a mess of marks and scribbles, but i knew what was on them and it was rare that i missed or forgot something after awhile.

my point is that i didn't come up with this overnight. it took a number of years. organizing one's work day is a big endeavor that takes some time to accomplish. and every time i changed jobs there was a period of adjusting and organizing to a new facility's way of doing things. there is no set formula that will work for everyone because we are all unique. not everything that worked for me may work for you. so, you use the ideas that do and develop your own brand of organization. and, then, share it when others are interested or ask. nursing school, as 2bnp2006 has unfortunately discovered, isn't big on telling us the practicalities of getting through our workdays. we're sort of left on our own.

here are links to other report sheets that i've seen on allnurses:

http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d31/nur/learning_objects/brainsheet.html - sample report sheets for 1, 2, 3, and 4 patients

http://www.minnesotanurse.com/work_sheets.htm - sample worksheets for nurses

this is a student clinical assessment sheet that i've been working on for the students on allnurses. the big feature on it is the review of systems for the assessment of the patient that i developed from researching several different sources. but, it is designed for only one patient. if you think it would be useful, download and use it.

[attach]5519[/attach]

hope you all have a happy and fulfilling career!

angel's RN · Apr 18, 2007

Dear Daytonite-- Thanks :yeah: . I actually used it last night at work, and I really liked the orgination I had (for the first time in a LOOOOOONG time!).

Really 'preciate the share.

's RN