Tips for a new Med-Surg/Peds nurse

caseyuptonurse · Jan 17, 2016

1. Time management will come with time. In the beginning you need to focus on safety and obtaining new skills or practicing skills you learned in school. For a new nurse time management usually is the skill that takes the longest to learn. Best advice is to try to have everything ready before you go into a room and group care together.

2. I would definitely have a nurse brain sheet to keep yourself organized. There are printable ones around the web and you can even make yourself one. My workplace even has some already made up that I prefer to use because they are more pertinent to the types of patients we have.

3. Make sure you have a black and red pen and a notepad. I also like to carry around scissors on my person for dressings and whatever else I may need them for. Keep a stethoscope on you as well.

4. I keep so many things in my work bag, it's unreal. I have my own personal hand sanitizer and lotion, a nursing pocket guide, snacks, drinks, extra pens, and more. Bring whatever you think you may need throughout the day. My bag pretty much stays in my locker but at least I have stuff somewhere if I need it.

5. There are pros and cons to both shifts. You will be surrounded by more people during the day such as doctors, administrators, and families. During the day you can talk to these people and learn a lot about your patient. Also if something goes wrong with a patient there are more hands on deck to help out with a situation. On night shift the staff is limited and you sometimes have to be more self-sufficient in those situations. But on the positive side there are not as many interruptions with all the personnel that are working during the day. Also things tend to be slightly slower on night shift which makes it easier to work on time management.

6. This was one of the hardest things for me. I used to work as a CNA before becoming a nurse and I didn't want to tell my CNAs to do things for me. Honestly this is what made me so bad with time management because I didn't want to tell them to do things I was capable of doing. My preceptor basically pulled me aside and told me if I want to get out on time I need to delegate a task or I'm going to be at work forever. I also had CNAs take advantage of me helping them in the beginning sadly and then they expected me to do most of their work whenever I was working. You won't sound mean if you ask them to do something for you. They know that they are there to help you and they won't have any issues doing what you ask as long as it isn't unreasonable. I honestly don't delegate too many tasks unless I have to because I find the more I help my aids the more likely they are to help me in times of need. But I delegate enough that I get stuff done that needs to be done.

Hope that helps begin to answer some of your questions!