Time Management - Night Shift

[mugs]

I recently started working in hospital, this is my first hospital job. I dont find enough time to go over the consults and lab results and sometimes I am blank when next shift comes and asks for the report. How should I manage my time? I would appreciate if other night shift nurses could explain me what is the best way to manage time. I highly appreciate your replies.

[lgag30]

Honestly, you should be getting that information in report. If the AM nurse is not telling you these things, dont be afraid to ask. You know they will ask you if you dont tell them something. Not sure what floor youre on but some good questions if you dont know what to ask... "Were all their lab values ok?" "How are their vitals" "Whats the plan for them?"

Of course, if things change, write them down as they happen so you dont forget.

Another trick I was once told - you tell yourself you need to be done before 7am with everything. Tell yourself you need to be done at 630 or 6 instead. Use that extra time to catch up on reading so you are prepared for report.

Hope this helps a little.

[vnguyen3]

Here's what I normally do: after report go check out your patients, just make sure they're breathing and Alive. Check orders, look at labs to make sure there isn't any critical values that hasn't been reported. (consults HnP can be viewed at a later time) pass meds and assess, I normally read HnP when I'm charting. Time management comes with experience and honestly the amount of patient load you have. There's no way in hell anyone can do it all with 7-8 patient load.

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

A lot of nurses don't give that information in report (and roll their eyes when asked, even just for the abnormals) and on nights, there is usually more time to go hunting for that stuff, but now always. I usually have a report sheet because most people don't remember every number in their heads unless it's very critical. I thought most nurses did it that way, but I guess not Time management starts DURING report because, while the nurse is talking to you, you can be jotting down a ToDo list on a part of your paper that's separate from the assessment section. The planning can start there, but remember, things don't go according to plan most of the time. Someone will fall, need changing/cleaning, or a family member will start acting up, etc.

It's an important thing to learn, but you can only do so much because things most certainly make you deviate from your plan, no matter how expertly laid at the start of the shift. :) The biggest thing for me was to not freak out about it and, since report is hard for you, maybe having the chart available when you give report will help. If you don't know something or didn't write it down, you can find it quickly. As long as you're not saying "I don't know" about everything and write the important stuff down (which you learn as you go because EVERYTHING seems ultra important at first), you should be fine xo

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

Also, something that will endear you to your coworkers is making a master list of the results of major tests (CT, MRI, etc) that a pt has had and sticking it somewhere prominent. I happened to have time one night to do that to a pt who'd been in the unit for over 3 months and had had a lot of stuff done. Granted, there isn't always time for that sort of thing, but any small thing like that goes a long way in helping everyone out.