Time Management

[Bluepen]

I have been a night shift nurse a hospital for a year and a half. I still am not good at managing my time from 7:30-10. Any tips? 

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

How many patients, do you have an assistant and what kind of unit?

[Bluepen]

10 minutes ago, Been there,done that said:

How many patients, do you have an assistant and what kind of unit?

It is an observation unit. The ER sends us anyone that they are not sure about and we hold patients  when the hospital is full. We have 60 beds but usually only staffed to take 40 patients. We have PSAs and they get 10-16 patients. On average we start with 4 patients and average 2 new admissions. So I have 6 patients by the end of shift.  

[Davey Do]

Priorities, priorities, priorities.

The first few hours of a shift is a busy time, and direct patient care is the paramount importance. Learning the specifics about the patients requiring the highest levels of intervention is first, putting out fires that won't wait is on the same level, and it trickles down from there.

Documentation is a must and pocket notes can be kept for later charting. Anything which is mandated, doesn't directly affect patient care or safety can be put off. Superfluous duties can be put off, and in my experience, if they're truly unnecessary and are put off long enough, they have a tendency to disappear.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

7:30 -10:00 you would need to put out any fires  that you find.  Then it  would be the time to complete your assessments and chart them.

 Time to get ready for the  two admissions you know are coming. Learn how to minimize admission charting. Good luck.. sounds like a very difficult unit.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

That sounds like a challenging unit because you never know whether an admission will take 10 minutes or an hour. I would say hit the ground running to get as much necessary stuff out of the way as soon as you can, before the admissions can roll up, hopefully. Get your assessment and minimal essential charting done ASAP. Prioritize important meds like antibiotics where time is more of an issue. If melatonin gets pushed off to 11pm, no big deal.  As others have said, push off anything of lesser importance until the later hours in your shift. 

I am a checklist person. That works for me, if your brain works like that perhaps create a list with checkboxes of what you absolutely need to get done for each patient. Good luck!

[GranaG]

I created a "Brain Sheet" when I first became a nurse, and over the years it has evolved. I have a column for Pt. Name/Dr. Name  Room # Diagnosis/ Treatments/Med times and a small area on the edge for notes, I.e. VS or things I need to remember.  You will get the hang of it. It takes time, but work on a sheet to help with your organization.  It helps me to see thing checked off.  You could also have a column for labs/tests to complete too.

Hope this helps. Good Luck! Welcome to the profession

[Bluepen]

Everyone thank you for your tips on time management, I have tried many of them and they have made my shifts so much easier.