Time Management Concerns

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I'm heading into my preceptorship soon and I have a problem I'm hoping other nurses can help me with. It affects me during clinicals and is probably my biggest concern r/t precepting.

I'm concerned about my time management/ prioritization.

I believe my problem is that I allow myself to get interrupted often.

I have difficulty charting fast and delegating. Delegating is hard for me when I feel a pt needs (non-nursing help), but there aren't techs/aides around and I have other things that need to be done that only I can do and I need to do now.

For example, I tend to answer call lights, toilet pts in need, fetch pillows, etc and spend too much time listening to them. ( I know I am in control of the last one, I know what I need to do to fix that problem). I do not know what to do about call lights, toiletting, etc in this situation.

Charting fast is hard for me because I never know which areas to skip on the electronic assessment. For ex: in some areas you can write WDL but others you should go in depth. Last semester I was in the same unit the whole time and we had very similar pts – all tele, mostly all s/p heart cath, so I knew what was pertinent. For example, you don't need to do a full neuro assessment on a TKR pt who is A&O x4.

I feel like I've answered some of my own questions with my writing out my problem (-; However, I would appreciate additional insight on these challenges.

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Specializes in Hemodialysis.

vintagemother, i feel the same way!! you are in 4th semester at ****, correct? I often feel like I want to chart on everything to become proficient, yet, the nurses on the floor don't chart as nearly as much as we do in clinical. I don't feel like i have good time management either when it come to actually planning my time line.... today in clinical, i wrote it out before conference because i was so busy with my patient! I have asked my nurses I have been working with, and they say that when we actually become working Nurses, that what we are doing in Nursing school really is not was Nursing is going to be like. We need to focus on becoming proficient at assessment, and pathophysiology and knowing what interventions we need to do for patient problems first during nursing school.....I am kinda nervous about 4th semester!!! Good Luck!!!

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It's tough when you have patients that need toileted, requests for pillows, can I have a ginger ale, can I have a Tylenol, etc. sometimes it's rough if you peek down the hall and there are no aides to be found. Sometimes, if I know an aide is hiding in a corner of our unit, I will vocera her to toilet a patient or grab requests.

If it's a "can I have a snack" type request, I have learned to respond with something like, "I will absolutely do that for you. There are some patients who need important medications, so after I finish that I will be back with your ______."

You seem well rounded enough to know all of this though. Sometimes it's easier just to grab the pillow that would take you 15 seconds to get just to have it off of your brain. The time management will come in time. After getting through a few difficult shifts without completely losing it gives you a sort of confidence that you can tackle anything... And you worry less about time management and just know that you're smart enough to figure it all out.

Good luck!!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

Adri0418 and javaRX,

Thank you for your quick responses. Adri, you made a good point that I know is true: working as an RN is not the same as being a student. I truly hope and believe that focusing on true proficiency regarding important stuff will be the focus of real life RN work.

PS 4th semester has been easier than 3rd!! [emoji3]

Java: thank you for acknowledging that it can indeed be tough! Thank you so much for acknowledging that I seem to be well rounded- I think I am! I truly hope, and have a bit of confidence that I will be able to figure it out! I figured it out as an LVN and I'm hopeful I'll figure it out as an RN.

Thank you to you both for assuaging my fears! Lol!!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

Moderators:

One more pleeeease to the Mods and Adri. I tend to overshare on AN at times. But could you please remove the school name mentioned in Adris post. Pleeeaase!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Moderators:

One more pleeeease to the Mods and Adri. I tend to overshare on AN at times. But could you please remove the school name mentioned in Adris post. Pleeeaase!

Done. :)
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